Identity Crisis
by Jelp
Summary: Naruto helped Sasuke fulfill his revenge against Itachi at a costly price. With new duties expected by his long lost family & being forced to share the same body with Sasuke, Naruto's experiencing a bit of an identity crisis. Restless Seq. SasuNaruSasu
1. Chapter 1: Dead or Alive?

Hello! First of all **_this is a stand alone OR sequel fic_**. I will reference or explain things that will prevent you from needing to read its prequel (Restless) first, but it might help you get a feel for things if you read Restless. That said, for those of you who read Restless, I'm glad you enjoyed it enough to read its sequel. Quite a number of you left me suggestions in reviews and sent me personal messages in addition to your reviews. I will take in to account what everyone suggested, but I will go by what feels right, or else I would be writing about ten to twelve different sequels! One is already quite a bit for me to write. :-)

I want to apologize ahead of time for the amount of content in this chapter that is re-cap, but this is for those who have not read Restless, and a refresher to others.

(FYI: this is the Prologue and Chapter 1)

I don't own Naruto.

This contains spoilers for the new Shippuuden arc and spoilers for my other fic Restless.

_Last note: the prologue is a tad dry. I'll edit it later, but I don't want to delay posting chapter 1 any more. If you've already read Restless, and don't need a refresher, jump down to Chapter 1!_

**Identity Crisis**

**Prologue: Restless**

Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke both grew up in a childhood filled with misery and loneliness. Naruto was orphaned on the day of his birth, becoming the hated demon vessel that the entire village feared and loathed. Since no one wanted to adopt him, he was sent to the shinobi Temple. He was raised and ignored by the monks until Sandaime himself came to fetch him from the Temple. He struggled at the Konoha Ninja Academy because his first language was Chinese, the language of the monks. After he fell behind, he became a goofball in order to try and get noticed. When that failed, he set his sights on becoming Hokage in order to get recognized.

Uchiha Sasuke grew up in his brother's shadow until the time that his brother killed off the rest of his clan leaving Sasuke scarred with the burned images of the grotesque butchering of his entire family. From then on, Sasuke's heart burned for revenge. Despite the number of fangirls that fawned over him, Sasuke felt even more alone because none of the people that wanted to be his friend could understand, nor did they try to understand, his deep loneliness.

Sasuke and Naruto seemed an unlikely pair to ever become friends. Naruto was loud and goofed off, desperately craving attention. Sasuke was a loner, wanting to be left alone by those that did not understand his pain. Naruto was last in the class, Sasuke the first. During the Academy, Sasuke saw Naruto as a horrible shinobi, and Naruto saw Sasuke as the smug shinobi to beat.

When they both finally graduated, they were placed on the same team. They grew to have a grudging respect and understanding of each other, and were closer to each other than they had been to anyone during their lonely childhoods. They were forced to co-operate with each other, forced to eat the same meals.

Most importantly, they were forced to sleep side by side.

As they slept side by side, it was Naruto's restless sleeping habits that inadvertently initiated a much deeper, and a much more intimate relationship between the two.

It all started when Naruto literally rolled on top of Sasuke, without managing to fully wake up. Sasuke tried to push his teammate back onto his own sleeping mat, but he failed. The next thing Sasuke knew, Naruto had pulled Sasuke back on top of him. Sasuke was trapped in a tangle of limbs now _on top_ of a mostly sleeping Naruto, while Naruto meanwhile ground his clothed erection beneath a very frazzled Sasuke. And Sasuke let it happen. He let the feeling of contact take over him as he moved his own erection back against Naruto's. Naruto never woke up (at least not fully enough to recall everything) and Sasuke had to confront him about it later. In the end, the two came to a sort of understanding about what had happened; it sparked a different level of rivalry between them, a rivalry of who could best whom at dominance.

Kakashi knew what his two male subordinates were up to as they found some less than innocent ways to relieve their mutual loneliness through some grinding and hand jobs, but he did nothing to stop it. Neither of the boys wanted to be alone any more, and they had found a common connection to each other. In fact, because of this reason, Kakashi actually encouraged their relationship to a degree, knowing that they both needed someone else to keep themselves from being lonely.

As Sasuke's and Naruto's bond grew, it was at that time that Kakashi began to find out about his father's first love, and about a half-brother he hadn't known he was related to. This half-brother turned out to be none other than his now deceased teacher, Namikaze Minato, the Fourth Hokage. Later evidence began to present itself, making it seem as though Namikaze Minato had left behind a son. All the evidence pointed to Naruto as Minato's child, and Kakashi began to gather information to prove his theory. He hoped he could one day be a good uncle to Naruto if they were indeed related.

Kakashi had little time to gather more data before Sasuke betrayed Konoha leaving for the Sound. As Kakashi found the evidence of a chidori wound on Naruto's body that suggested that Sasuke had tried to kill Naruto, Kakashi vowed to protect his potential nephew from someone who would do something as despicable as betray his friends.

The cursed seal, and Sasuke's inability to comprehend its power had taken over him. He regretted his actions, but remained with Orochimaru in order to overcome the power of the curse seal that he believed Orochimaru controlled. Once he had killed Orochimaru, then he would be freed. He waited for three years, waited by planning Orochimaru's death, planning his revenge, planning how to make it up to Naruto. Sasuke befriended one of Orochimaru's snake summons, Dokueki, and used her and her knowledge of venoms to help begin his plans.

Naruto, in the meanwhile, had also left Konoha to train with Jiraiya. Jiraiya discovered that Naruto was lacking in some of his ninja abilities due to, of all things, poor eyesight. Once this was corrected, Naruto became an even more efficient ninja. His thoughts were always on becoming a better ninja in order to bring Sasuke back, and Sasuke mirrored similar sentiments.

On Naruto's sixteenth birthday, at Jiraiya's insistence, he went to a bar to "celebrate." Sasuke, in disguise, lured Naruto away from Jiraiya, made sure to make Naruto a man on his birthday, and then injected one of two vials of anti-venom into Naruto's blood stream to help him become immune to certain types of poisons. Naruto did not recall any of this, and instead woke-up in a hospital very confused. Jiraiya refused to tell Naruto that Sasuke had come to see him, pretending that Naruto had ended up having too much to drink.

Nevertheless, Sasuke's plans were finally being put into motion.

When Naruto and Sakura came to fetch Sasuke with Yamato (who was acting as jounin on the mission due to Kakashi's exhaustion from trying to save the kazekage on an unrelated mission) and Sai (a fill in for Sasuke), Sasuke's plans were almost ruined.

The anti-venom that ran through Naruto's veins took multiple months to take full effect, and the time had not yet come for Sasuke to be able to use Naruto. Sasuke thwarted Naruto's and the other Konoha ninja's attempts to take him back to Konoha before he was (at least, he believed he would be) free of the curse seal. Their clash was brief, but in that battle, Sasuke found out that Naruto housed the Kyuubi, and made a deal with Kyuubi. He knocked Naruto completely unconscious so Naruto had no knowledge of the deal.

Slipping the snake summon Dokueki into Naruto's backpack, Sasuke left the Konoha team, leaving them to think that he wanted nothing to do with them. In reality, he slipped Dokueki into Naruto's backpack so that he could trace her scent. He wished that he could have done that with Naruto's scent, but he had only trained tracking Dokueki's, and was therefore only familiar with how to trace her. Nonetheless, after Dokueki had appeared to tell Naruto that Sasuke was coming, Naruto and Sasuke met face to face.

Naruto was not happy to hear that Sasuke wanted him to stop trying to bring him back, but he was at least glad to hear that Sasuke wanted to come back at some point after he had finally killed Itachi. Naruto promised to help him. Sasuke told Naruto that he would come for him in the future, and to look for his sign. After letting their passions get away with them during their brief encounter, they both went their separate ways.

While Sasuke concentrated his efforts on killing Orochimaru, Naruto concentrated on training.

During Naruto's training, another plan came to pass, one that involved him, but one that he was very much unaware was going on. Kakashi's suspicions that Naruto was his nephew were ever constant in his mind, and only more so when Naruto was once again his to train. With the aid of the new jounin, Yamato, that had seen Naruto's abilities and kindness first hand, Kakashi used Yamato to help him gather data to prove that Naruto was the son of the Yondaime. His findings finally led him to one Sen Kyohaku, the eldest daughter of the retired daimyo.

In their youth, Sen Kyohaku and Kakashi's father had had a child born out of wedlock who was given up for adoption to the Namikaze: Namikaze Minato. Dragging Naruto along without telling him the reasons behind their mission, Kakashi, Yamato, and of course, Naruto, met up with the Sen family. Using DNA testing, he was able to prove that Kyohaku was indeed Minato's biological mother, and that his father had been Minato's biological father. Unfortunately, the council had forbidden him from testing Naruto to see if Kyohaku was Naruto's grandmother, and even sabotaged the DNA testing to shut down if they tried.

It didn't matter. Kakashi was sure that Naruto was his nephew even without the DNA proof, and Kyohaku was sure that Naruto was her grandson. Naruto was elated to finally have found family, and looked forward to being with the new, large hyperactive family that he had found. His great-grandfather, the retired daimyo, Sen-san, was an especially brilliant source of energy, and it made Kakashi wonder if Naruto's over enthusiasm stemmed from heritage rather than the Kyuubi as he had always thought.

Happy and content in more ways that he could ever have imagined, Naruto was suddenly thrust into making a difficult choice when Sasuke appeared, requesting his help. Naruto had to choose: Konoha or Sasuke?

But of course, Naruto had promised that he would help Sasuke fulfill his revenge, and he knew that he could always come back to Konoha, so he left with Sasuke. However, Sasuke was worried about his own friend, and he purposefully staged the way that Naruto departed with him to make it seem as though he had kidnapped Naruto.

Naruto turned Sasuke's four "man" cell, the other two being Dokueki and Kabuto (who was not there by his own volition, and was thus kept in check by having Dokueki wrapped around his neck, ready to strike him with her venom if he tried anything.) They traveled for a full day towards the area where Sasuke had been informed that Itachi would be, and planned to attack immediately the next day.

Sadly, what Sasuke had not realized was that by presenting this illusion of kidnapping Naruto that he now had to deal with an enraged family which included the current and retired daimyo, as well as one pissed off, over-protective, and very dangerous Uncle Kakashi.

With Naruto's kidnapping, and with the daimyo now involved, Tsunade sent out seven shinobi, Hinata, Shino, Kiba, Yamato, Sai, Sakura, and, of course, Kakashi. They set out to find and rescue Naruto, pushing themselves in order to get him back. No one was sure of what Sasuke's intentions with Naruto were, but Kakashi suspected the worst. He assumed that Sasuke would try to use Naruto to bait Itachi, or once again try and kill him like he had at the Valley of the End to obtain the mangekyou sharingan.

The seven Konoha shinobi finally found Naruto while he was already engaged in battle against both Itachi and Kisame. They began to fight, splitting into two groups, four Konoha ninjas against each Akatsuki member.

Meanwhile, Sasuke was busy extracting information from Kabuto so he was delayed in starting the fight. By the time he got there, Kisame had been defeated, but Itachi had captured Naruto within his mangekyou sharingan. Using Itachi's distraction with Naruto, Sasuke rammed a chidori and a kunai poisoned with Dokueki's venom through Naruto's chest, straight through to Itachi. Sasuke re-opened his eyes with his own mangekyou sharingan, seemingly to have killed Naruto. Though wounded, Itachi then engaged Sasuke in a battle of mangekyou vs. mangekyou. Sasuke won the battle of the minds because he had wounded and poisoned Itachi. He used Itachi's weakened state to attack. He beheaded Itachi and fulfilled his revenge.

Sasuke had planned this moment almost perfectly. Naruto was not dead because he had injected the anti-venom serum into Naruto months ago, and the anti-venom had finally fermented in his system. Naruto was not really dead. Dokueki's venom would have killed anyone within a matter of minutes if they had not been given the anti-venom to it. The venom would normally attack a person's internal organs (which would normally have killed a person quickly). Instead, the poison immediately shutdown Naruto's bodily functions and froze them. Naruto survived without a heartbeat for several minutes since his body was shutdown "properly" in a chilled state; his body was in a hypothermic-like state, a state where most can live for about two to three hours without a heartbeat without suffering any severe damage to the brain.

In order for Sasuke to gain the mangekyou sharingan, he had figured out a way to do so without actually killing Naruto. He knew that only those who stopped the beating of the heart of their most precious person and touched the stilled heart with their bare hands could gain the mangekyou sharingan. He got around actually killing Naruto by stopping his heart with venom and touching the stilled heart without actually killing Naruto.

The only problem in Sasuke's plan was that he had not accounted for others.

In Sasuke's moment of euphoria for killing Itachi, Kakashi, stricken with grief and still believing Naruto to be dead, killed Sasuke with his own raikiri.

Naruto awoke from his hypothermic-like state a few minutes later, only to find Sasuke dead. Kakashi watched his nephew weep over the body of his friend, horrified and more guilt-stricken than ever before in his life, raw emotions that he rarely let take over him filling him.

Although Naruto understood why Kakashi had done what he had, he couldn't face him. Naruto could not face him at Sasuke's funeral pyre. Everything was too numbing, too horrible for him to comprehend...

* * *

**Identity Crisis**

**Chapter 1: Dead or Alive?**

It seemed like years ago that he had woken in the middle of the night, the same night that he had found out about his heritage, with the Uchiha complex burning to the ground, Sasuke coming to take him away. Time seemed so unrealistic, so incomprehensible as he slipped through his open window upon his return home. He walked to the bathroom, where he went through the numb routine of getting ready for bed. As he washed his hands, he mechanically looked at himself in the mirror, only to jump in shock as he saw that his eyes were black, his whisker marks gone, and his hair dark. Naruto blinked his eyes, and the vision he had seen of Sasuke staring back at him rather than his reflection had vanished. Naruto look back down, his hands shaking as he finished washing them. Still, he couldn't help it as he glanced back up at the mirror again.

Again, he saw Sasuke's appearance reflecting at him from the mirror, but his own expression of surprise and shock were mimicked in the face in the mirror. Naruto's eyes widened as something even more shocking occurred. His mouth opened - his mouth that held Sasuke's facial features - and spoke - with Sasuke's voice.

"Looks like what I had planned didn't go so well. My soul got pushed out of my own body and into yours. It looks like we're going to be stuck with each other for a while until I figure out how to get another body for myself. If you hadn't been so succumbed with grief, you might have noticed I was trying to talk to you, and you could have gotten my body before it was burned. For now, we'll just have to share yours."

Naruto blinked once before promptly fainting.

"You took that really well," Sasuke's sarcastic voice seemed to draw Naruto back to reality, even if his reality didn't seem so real. He sat up, wincing as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Sasuke?" Naruto asked, his voice echoing slightly in his bathroom.

"Yes?" Sasuke's bemused voice also echoed slightly. This time, having been prepared for it, Naruto could feel his own lips moving when Sasuke's voice came from his own body.

"You're alive?" Naruto asked. Sasuke sighed. It was a strange feeling for Naruto, because he could hear Sasuke sighing, but he could feel _his_ body making the sound. It was though his body switched to a sort of numb mode, only allowing him to feel but not control part of his body. It was like the feeling you get when your leg falls asleep but are unable to really feel the part that is asleep. In that situation, you can feel your finger touching your leg, but your leg can't feel the prod of the finger. It was as though he were in that kind of situation. Quite frankly it freaked him out.

"I suppose, for all intensive purposes, my soul is alive, but my body is dead. From what I can recall of Orochimaru's own transfer experiments, his body was dead, but his spirit was kept alive," Sasuke said.

"Do-does that mean you're going to take over my body like Orochimaru took over those other people's bodies?" Naruto asked mortified. Naruto could feel Sasuke frown slightly.

"No, nor do I think I can. Something definitely was off when I entered your body. For starters, I was only semiconscious of trying to move my own soul out of my own body. When you flung yourself onto my body after you found out that I had died, I felt as though I saw you from where I lay on the ground. Then, all of a sudden, I felt as though I were being pushed inside you. It was not a pleasant sensation."

"But, why do your facial features take over mine whenever you talk?" Naruto asked.

"I take over your facial features when I talk?" Sasuke asked surprised.

"C-can't you - can't you tell? Can't you feel it? Can't you _see_ it?" Naruto asked.

"As far as I can tell, you and I are standing in what I can only describe as the place that must house where both of our souls reside. Right now, you and I are standing face to face."

"Be still for a moment," Naruto said, wanting to figure something out. His mind was only vaguely registering that Sasuke was somehow miraculously alive, or at least, not completely dead. Instead, his mind was set in a shinobi battle mode, and he had to first figure out his surroundings, even if that meant refiguring out his own body. Naruto's body was shaking, and he rubbed his head again from where he must have hit it when he passed out. He gripped the edges of his sink, using it as leverage to pull himself to his feet, cursing himself as he realized that his body and legs were shaking as he stood. He looked at himself in the mirror, glad to see that it was his own reflection looking back at him. "Okay, talk," Naruto said.

Naruto watched his reflection in the mirror change smoothly so that his features changed into Sasuke's seamlessly as Sasuke's voice once again came out of Naruto's mouth.

"Hn. Why?" Sasuke asked.

"Because my face looks like yours when you talk!"

"What do you mean by that?" Sasuke questioned.

"I mean, your face takes over my face," Naruto explained, feeling grateful that he sounded less panicked than he actually felt.

"What do you mean that I take over your face?" Sasuke asked while Naruto looked at Sasuke's soft features and dark eyes staring back at him from the mirror questioningly. He half expected Sasuke's facial features to look like Sasuke when he was immersed in the cursed seal like the time that Itachi had put him under a genjutsu back while he, Sakura, and Kakashi were trying to rescue Gaara.

"You may be seeing me face to face in my mind, or soul realm, or whatever it is you're seeing, but you're in my body, and when you speak, your face, your eyes, your lips, your hair, all appear on my head instead of my own. I'm looking in my bathroom mirror right now, and I'm seeing you face to face outside of my body," Naruto tried his best to explain.

"That's not possible," Sasuke said firmly.

"Well I didn't think it was possible that would decide to come into my body, but you are," Naruto grumbled.

"You haven't complained before when I've entered your body," Sasuke said, a hint of perversion in his voice, and Naruto watched Sasuke's face merge with his own as Naruto narrowed his eyes.

"How can you be making jokes right now? _I thought you were dead!_ Now you're living in my body and you're taking over my face, and quite frankly I don't know what the hell to do right now!" Naruto said panicking.

"And you think this is easy for me?" Sasuke asked icily, and Naruto turned his body away from the mirror so he wouldn't have to see the way that Sasuke glared at him. "My body is gone. _I_ died. Right now, if neither of us can keep our wits about us, then we will drive each other insane. It's obvious that this cannot be resolved immediately." Sasuke sighed, and Naruto felt breath leave his body even though his own breathing was on a different pattern.

"This is just too weird. You're breathing is different than mine, and not all of your actions are appearing on my body. You're breathing is not even in sync with mine. How can two of us be breathing at the same time through one pair of lungs?"

"You ask as though I know," Sasuke said airily. "Hmm...perhaps," Sasuke added thoughtfully.

"What?" Naruto asked eagerly.

"We're in your bathroom, correct?" Sasuke asked.

"Yes," Naruto said, slightly frustrated that he and Sasuke were seeing two different things.

"Is there anything in front of us?" Sasuke questioned.

"The sink," Naruto said.

"Okay, now, if I move my arm to the right, can you see it?" Sasuke asked, and as he did so, Naruto could feel his own arm moving to the right of its own accord.

"Gaaah. Stop that. That's too weird," Naruto said as he watched his arm as it seemed to flicker. His pajama top no longer covered his arm; it was naked, and he recognized the pale skin as Sasuke's. Sasuke placed his arm back down to his side, and Naruto's arm returned to its normal appearance.

"Hmmm. The sink is in front of us? If I were to reach out my arm, would I be able to touch it?" Sasuke asked.

"Yes," Naruto asked, slightly annoyed that he didn't know what Sasuke was thinking and desperately wishing that when Sasuke's soul had entered his body that it had given him the ability to also read Sasuke's thoughts.

"What happens when I do this?" Sasuke asked. Naruto's eyes widened in surprise when he saw his arm once again taking on the shape of Sasuke's arm. Sasuke promptly made a swift movement as though to chop the sink in half. However, Sasuke's hand seemed to disappear right through the hard surface as though it weren't there, not even touching the sink.

"Your hand went right through the sink like it's not there!" Naruto said.

"Move your hand," Sasuke instructed. Naruto did so, and noticed that Sasuke's "hand" stayed where it was, and Naruto's own arm appeared at his side, and he could move it freely, but he could still see Sasuke's arm, and even more strangely, he could feel what Sasuke's arm could feel.

"This is way too weird. My arm appeared back at my side when I moved it, but I still see yours," Naruto groaned.

"Interesting," Sasuke murmured thoughtfully.

"Mind sharing, because I'm at a loss as to what is going on," Naruto said, extremely frustrated.

"My guess is that when you see my arm or face "take-over" yours, you are in fact feeling my soul move. However, it appears that even though you can feel it, and perhaps even see it, you are the only one who can see my movements when my body is not centered."

"So, in other words, you see me and my actions face to face in the 'soul realm,' and I am feeling your reactions in my body but no one else can see it? So, you could talk, and I can feel and hear you talk, but no one else will be able to see or hear you?" Naruto asked.

"It is only a guess, but it seems the most likely option." Suddenly, Naruto felt as though his stomach turned, and he could tell that Sasuke was experimenting with something. "What do you see me doing?" Sasuke asked. Naruto turned to see his left arm move, but once again it was Sasuke's, "Your left arm is moving," Naruto said.

"Hn. Interesting," Sasuke mused.

"Will you stop saying that and tell me what the hell is interesting?" Naruto wondered.

"I turned around and moved forward. It seems that even if I move, my center stays aligned with your center. We are facing opposite directions, yet our body movements mimic each other."

"I see," Naruto said, finally feeling like he might understand what was happening with his body.

"Well, this looks like it will be quite an experience," Sasuke said. "Though, I wonder," Sasuke murmured again. Naruto saw Sasuke's hand reach out from his body as though trying to touch something. "Damn," Sasuke hissed.

"What?" Naruto asked curiously.

"I can see the form of your soul, but when I try and touch you, it seems to go right through you," Sasuke said. Naruto couldn't help but suppress an unpleasant shudder as he remembered the way that Sasuke's hand had gone through his chest at the Valley of the End and then again just recently when they had fought against Kisame and Itachi. "Naruto, I'm sorry I didn't tell you what I was doing before with Itachi," Sasuke said, obviously also thinking about the most recent time when he had put his hand through Naruto's chest.

Naruto felt anger well up within him. He had been so surprised to see Sasuke inside of his body that he hadn't been able to properly enjoy the fact that he was back, nor be angry at him for the emotional pain he had caused him.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Naruto asked angrily.

"I made a deal with the Nine-Tails-" Sasuke began.

"WHAT?!"

"-and I didn't want to tell you about anything until I knew Kyuubi would follow through."

"When did you make this agreement? What happened? I don't remember this!" Naruto said furiously.

"When you first confronted me while I was still with Orochimaru. Do you remember when I entered your mind using the sharingan?"

"Actually, I think Kyuubi kind of lives more in my stomach, but yes I remember."

"Well, this is what I saw when I entered your...uh...stomach..."

EXPLINATION/FLASHBACK

Sasuke walked through some sort of corridor, and he could hear two voices. One was Naruto's, and the other was far more sinister. He heard Naruto yelling.

"I don't want to see your ugly muzzle anymore! I don't need your pathetic powers!" Naruto hollered. The other voice chuckled, a rolling sort of hideous laugh. Sasuke's eyes widened as he saw that enormous chakra materialize into the form of a beast as Sasuke walked forward, neither Naruto nor the beast noticing. The beast seemed to be saying that Naruto was weak without him, and that he was nothing without his strength. Sasuke noticed the seal on the large gates behind the thing, noticing that it seemed to have been peeled off slightly.

Though there was something sinister in the chakra, the shape that it had taken reminded Sasuke of something. No, it couldn't possibly be...

Sasuke put his hand out to touch the beast's materialized nose. It was then that they finally noticed that Sasuke was there.

"What are you doing here?" Naruto demanded. Sasuke looked over at Naruto. He placed his hand lightly on the top of Naruto's head. Naruto's eyes widened before they fluttered shut. Sasuke caught Naruto as he fell and laid him down gently. Sasuke had time to enjoy the dark amusement and irony of knocking Naruto unconscious in his own conscious before turning to face the mass of chakra before him.

"You're Kyuubi, aren't you?" Sasuke demanded.

"Ho! You must be an Uchiha to be able to see me inside Naruto," the Kyuubi demon chuckled.

"This is quite an interesting development. Let's talk."

"An Uchiha wants to speak with me? How very interesting," Kyuubi said, before baring his teeth and giving a malicious sounding chuckle.

"Why are you inside of Naruto?" Sasuke asked.

"So Naruto hasn't told anyone? Hmmm, interesting. Your Fourth Hokage sealed me inside of this brat."

"I see," Sasuke murmured. "So is that why my brother is after Naruto?"

"Uchiha, I do not know what goes on outside of Naruto unless he tells me," Kyuubi rumbled, his tails waving more ominously as his shape inside of Naruto became more defined. Sasuke could see Naruto lying unconscious. His body seemed to wave as Kyuubi appeared to become more solid and decided that he would have to make this quick as his keen mind formulated his plan.

"My brother wants to kill Naruto - to kill you. Perhaps you and Naruto together could defeat him, but I doubt it," Sasuke said, and Kyuubi's eyes narrowed dangerously at the idea of being inadvertently called weak. Sasuke hurried on. "My brother is strong, and battling him would take some time. I have seen what happens to Naruto when you and he fight together. Your chakra destroys his body before fixing it. Why take the chance of killing your own host when I can help you defeat a mutual enemy?" Kyuubi chuckled darkly, waging his tails excitedly.

"You want to kill your own brother? How exciting," Kyuubi hissed out. "So you don't want me to give Naruto aid if this Itachi comes around?"

"Yes."

"And why would I not want to kill when I get the chance?"

"Because I know of a way to put you into a body, into another host, that would be more willing to use your powers. He heals fast on his own. Using your chakra wouldn't hurt him as much, and he might be more willing to release all of your powers," Sasuke said. "The only thing is, in order to kill Itachi, I need the mangekyou sharingan. It's a form of sharingan that I can only get by stilling and then touching Naruto's dead heart-"

"Still his heart? No. If his heart is silenced, I am silenced. Without that connection, I can do nothing," Kyuubi rumbled angrily.

"It will not be permanent. There's a poison that will stop it for a moment. You will just need to be prepared to heal him immediately. I will have to use a chidori near his heart to make it look convincing. Naruto's heart will start again. Then I will transfer you out of Naruto. Naruto will no longer be hurt by your chakra, and you will be allowed to go into someone that is more likely to use that chakra," Sasuke said. What he wasn't saying was that he would likely kill the Kyuubi after placing him in the other body so that way no one, especially Naruto, would ever be hurt by the demon again.

"Interesting plan you've got there, gaki," the Kyuubi rumbled. Sasuke ignored the tone that Kyuubi taunted him with. Kyuubi was a formidable foe after all, and it was best to just let him talk as he pleased since he was trying to bargain with him. Sasuke waited, watching the nine-tailed demon before him. The way that the Kyuubi wasn't even looking at him, but rather staring at Naruto's limp "body" somehow put Sasuke on edge.

"And?" Sasuke prompted.

"And what?" Kyuubi spat back, still not looking at Sasuke.

"And will you agree?" Sasuke asked.

"Why should I?" Kyuubi asked unconcernedly, allowing his chakra body to move towards where Naruto lied. Sasuke had a strange urge to throw himself in between Kyuubi and Naruto but refrained.

"I thought I made those points quite obvious," Sasuke said through gritted teeth.

"You're like a little kid not getting his way. You should be more respectful," Kyuubi's deep voice rumbled, half amused as he finally allowed one large eye to peer back at Sasuke.

Kyuubi's tongue darted out to lick at Naruto, and this time, Sasuke moved, placing himself in between Naruto and Kyuubi. The Kyuubi redrew his tongue and laughed a deep, triumphant laugh.

"So you're the one!" Kyuubi laughed darkly still. Sasuke looked between Naruto and Kyuubi confused.

"What are you talking about?" Sasuke demanded.

"You see, little Uchiha, although I live within Naruto, I rarely know what is going on outside of his body. However, there are times when I am more aware, times when Naruto's, shall we say, trying to exert his dominance? Clearly you're the one who has been making him feel such interesting emotions. I can see it in the way you wanted to protect him," Sasuke's face remained passive, but he knew his rigid body language was giving everything away. "If I am not mistaken, he tends to be more especially unruly when trying out sexual games with you, am I right?" The slight blush on Sasuke's face spoke volumes to the Kyuubi.

"What are you getting at?" Sasuke asked, his voice dangerously low.

"I've no interest in what sex games you humans play, but I do enjoy it when I am able to feel more of the air outside. You see, every time Naruto gets riled up, I can come out a little bit. I can begin to feel more of the surroundings outside this cursed prison. Feeling fresh air is something I miss, as well as the joy of feeling water on my body. You get Naruto riled up so he is feeling dominant enough that I can feel the environment around me, as well as so that I can feel water again, then I will agree."

"Fine, but that doesn't mean I have to let him be dominant," Sasuke gritted out. The Kyuubi chuckled again.

"Dear little Uchiha, you don't know how animalistic our dear little Naruto can be. I'll agree, but I warn you, you better be careful yourself. Naruto can be dangerous when he wants to be."

END FLASHBACK/EXPLINATION

"So that's why Kyuubi didn't offer his chakra to me. You made a sex deal with Kyuubi about me? And you tried to put Kyuubi into someone else? Were you talking about Kabuto?" Naruto wondered.

"Yes, but I don't think it worked," Sasuke said sighing.

"Well that's good! You were going to release a homicidal demon! Do you know how dangerous that could have been?" Naruto demanded. Sasuke nodded, and Naruto felt his head move. "Would you mind just saying yes? It's really weird to feel my head move but not have it move," Naruto said angrily.

"It's rather annoying to stay still like this," Sasuke gritted out. "I don't have a body for a shell any more, and I don't know how my movements affect yours. You may feel it, but didn't we determine that your own body does not really move when I my spiritual body moves?"

"Yes but it still feels weird," Naruto complained. Sasuke rolled his eyes, and Naruto hmphed. Sasuke had been uncharacteristically apologetic for his actions about leaving him in the dark about what he was doing before, but now he seemed to be quite unabashed with making Naruto feel uncomfortable. Of course, if their positions had been reversed, Naruto would have felt the same way.

Naruto sighed, suddenly feeling the exhaustion of the past few days' events catch up with him. The realization that he had much to answer for also struck him.

"My family," Naruto murmured. "I was so mean to them. They were worried about me, and I just ran off without letting them know I was okay."

"Talk to them," Sasuke suggested.

"It's close to 1:00 in the morning. I don't think that's a good idea right now," Naruto said grumpily.

"I didn't say that you had to right now, and I have no idea of what time it is in here," Sasuke said defensively. "If it's so late, perhaps you should rest," Sasuke suggested.

"Sounds like a good idea."

Sasuke remained silent as Naruto went about finishing getting ready for bed before Naruto spoke again.

"Hey, Sasuke," Naruto asked suddenly.

"Hn?"

"How did you know that I didn't get your body from the funeral pyre if you can't see what I'm doing?" Naruto asked.

"I couldn't see what you see, but I could feel your soul. You were yelling at me, and I could feel your panic. I tried talking to you, but you didn't see me or hear me. I knew you were there in this spirit realm, but I didn't see a clear outline of you until you actually started talking back to me," Sasuke explained. Naruto paused before exploding.

"Why doesn't any of this make sense?!" Naruto asked frustrated pulling at his hair, but then calmed down. "I'm going to go to sleep. Tomorrow we'll talk to Tsunade-baa-chan and see what she thinks."

"Maybe she has a suggestion on how to get me out of your body. But then where would I go?" Sasuke asked, and Naruto could hear the ever so slight worry in Sasuke's voice.

"You're asking me? You're the one who always brags about being the genius," Naruto muttered, trying to sound jovial to relieve some of Sasuke's fears as he climbed into bed. Sasuke didn't respond and went silent.

Naruto lay in bed, staring at the ceiling of his bedroom for a while. His body was tired, but his mind was a whirl. He wanted to ask Sasuke so many questions, some of them he wasn't even sure if Sasuke knew the answer to. For instance, what had happened to Dokueki? What would they do if they couldn't get a body for Sasuke? What would his family think of him for actually being willing to run off with Sasuke when he had just found them? How would they take to him housing several different beings in his body? Was Kyuubi going to be upset when he found out Sasuke's promise hadn't worked? Would Sakura try and molest him now that Sasuke was in his body? Would he be able to molest Sasuke while Sasuke was in his body? Naruto decided he needed sleep, and willed the questions to go away until the morning.

Sasuke remained silent, but Naruto could tell from the strange shifts in his body, the way that he would feel Sasuke's arm of leg move every so often that Sasuke was very restless.

"Sasuke?" Naruto asked.

"Hn?"

"I know I didn't take finding out you were stuck with me very well, but I'm glad you're not dead, at least, not really," Naruto said. It was a strange apology, and it did not express all the emotions that he felt, but Sasuke understood.

"I know." Sasuke smirked.

"Cocky bastard," Naruto smirked back.

"Dobe."

"Prick."

"Usurakotonkachi."

"Good night."

"Night."

* * *

Naruto woke up the next morning, feeling rather odd. The events of everything hit him right away, so he was not surprised to hear Sasuke greet him first thing in the morning, but it took him a minute to register what Sasuke had said because he felt so odd. 

"What did you say?" Naruto asked groggily.

"I said we have a problem," Sasuke repeated.

"What's the matter?"

"For starters, it appears that when you fall asleep, my soul takes over consciousness, and I can see out of your body and control it. And just about five or so minutes ago before you woke up, as the sun finally reached the edge of your bed where your left arm is, I noticed something rather odd about it."

Naruto lifted his left arm and was glad that he could move it on his own. For a minute he was afraid that Sasuke was still in charge of his body because Sasuke said he had been in control of it. The relief he felt suddenly vanished when he saw his arm. His skin looked pale like Sasuke's. His left hand looked like Sasuke's, but his right hand looked like his own and he was controlling both of them.

"I also noticed something else a bit odd. Your body doesn't seem to be reacting well to having so many different chakras in it. Mine seems to be affecting your body, but Kyuubi's seems to be doing a number on your body as well-"

But before Sasuke could say any more, Naruto jumped up from his bed and ran into the bathroom. He practically shrieked at his appearance. He reached his hand up to grab the strange black hair - or was it fur - that was concentrated at the top of his, much higher than where his ears should normally be.

"What the hell happened to my ears?!"

**Next Chapter: Visible or Invisible?

* * *

**

I hope you enjoyed the first chapter. There will be more Sasuke and Naruto romance in later chapters. Bear with me while I get the new plot rolling.

Thanks for helping me with this chapter Brent, even though I'm stubborn and only took a few of your suggestions!

Dragon695 – I hope you liked this chapter. I shortened many sentences thinking about you. lol :-)

Also, some of you may have requested that I e-mail you. Sadly, the e-mails did not always appear, and I apologize if I did not have you on my e-mail list. Again, I hope you liked it! - Jelp


	2. Chapter 2: Visible or Invisible?

For those who are curious, chapter 3 to Mine is up, and I posted a oneshot called The Queerwolf. Now on to the story!

**Identity Crisis**

**Chapter 2: Visible or Invisible?**

"What the hell happened to my ears?!" Naruto asked frantically, tugging at what he knew were his ears - because that's where he could hear from - and because they looked like ears. Like animal ears.

Like fox ears.

"Why the hell aren't they at least red?!" Naruto bellowed angrily, once again tugging on his ears. It was a strange feeling having his ears feel so fuzzy, but he now knew for a fact they had to be his ears because it hurt when he tugged too hard.

"At least you don't have a tail," Sasuke said, and Naruto felt the strange sensation of Sasuke smirking over Naruto's own facial features as he saw Sasuke's face staring back at him in the mirror. Sasuke's black hair seemed to fit perfectly with the color of the black ears, and Naruto wondered if the ears reflected both Sasuke AND Kyuubi. Still, remembering Sasuke's comment, Naruto clamped both hands on his behind to make sure that there really was no tail sticking out from his butt.

Naruto looked at his appearance forlornly, seeing that his right arm looked like Sasuke's, and he seemed to have developed Kyuubi's fucking ears.

"This is not good," Naruto said as he began to pace back and forth in the small confines of his bathroom, wondering what the hell was going on, ignoring the fact that Sasuke was too busy smirking at his, no, _their_ condition instead of offering helpful advice. Naruto decided to go over everything that was going on. "Sasuke's soul is in my body. Kyuubi's sealed in my stomach. I have Sasuke's left arm. I have Kyuubi's ears, but they look like Sasuke's hair color," Naruto said, and then began to chant this phrase over and over, trying to find some connections between them as he continued his pacing.

"I think I like the idea of ears on you. They'd be strangely alluring," Sasuke said mischievously.

"...Sasuke seems more perverted now that he's in my body..." Naruto added to his chant.

"I had to be somewhat perverted to want to go into your body in the first place. But furry ears sound sexy. You'd look hot with a tail too."

"…_A tail on me would look hot?_ You're not well Sasuke. " Naruto shook his head, and once again started reciting his list. "I have Sasuke's left arm, Sasuke's brain has been perversely damaged beyond repair while in my body..." Naruto modified the last bit to his list. Sasuke sighed.

"Are you going to tell me what's going on so I can try and help?" Sasuke asked.

"No! You didn't want to help and just laughed at me at first. I know you messed this up somehow. I have your arm, and your black fur on my ears."

"I have _hair_ not _fur_," Sasuke hissed.

"Whatever! This is somehow your fault," Naruto said.

"Here I thought you were happy to see me alive," Sasuke grumbled. "Just tell me what's going on so that we can try and work this out."

"What else is there to tell you? I have fox ears and your arm took-" Naruto stopped mid-sentence.

"What?" Sasuke asked. He was not really fazed by the situation, just curious. He found frustration much easier to let go of than normal, and he had done a lot of thinking about his situation last night while "awake" in Naruto's body. For the past half of his life he had been dedicated to finding and revenging his clan. Itachi was dead. Now that he was in a predicament even more pressing, now that he was stuck inside of Naruto's body, he felt strangely at peace. Who said getting his revenge would only make him feel empty once he had fulfilled it?

"My arm is returning back to normal. And my ears, this feels really uncomfortable, are shrinking back and moving back down the side of my head," Naruto finished. He watched his reflection in the mirror in awe as he seemed to morph back into himself. It was like watching a henge vanish in slow motion. Naruto felt his ears as they were back in their normal location. "That was...weird."

"Are they gone?" Sasuke asked curiously.

"Yeah. My ears are back to normal, and my arm is normal."

"What happened?" Sasuke asked, and Naruto nearly growled.

"How the hell am I supposed to know? I'm not used to having someone invade my soul space - and Kyuubi doesn't count!" Naruto added, already anticipating Sasuke's comment. Naruto rubbed the back of his head. "I'm going to go see Tsunade-baa-chan and see what she makes of this."

Sasuke remained quiet as Naruto went about in a whirlwind getting ready to ask Tsunade about what was going on. Quite frankly, Sasuke wasn't sure that he liked the idea of Tsunade knowing that he was living in Naruto's body. He had been a missing-nin after all, and he wondered what would happen to him if he were taken from Naruto's body only to be killed. He was not afraid of death. Death did not frighten him any longer.

The idea of losing Naruto did scare him though. What would happen to Naruto if he were taken out of his body? Would Naruto die? Was it better to just stay in Naruto's body? Sasuke was sure he could live with that. The question was, could Naruto? Still, it was partially Naruto's decision. It was his body after all, though Sasuke felt he had some claims on it as well now that he was in it.

That, and he felt possessive of Naruto in general. He had been closer to Naruto than anyone else in his life, and he was sure that Naruto had been closer to him than anyone else as well.

Sasuke's musings were interrupted by a loud rumbling noise that came from Naruto's stomach.

"Heheheh," Naruto laughed sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.

"I wasn't sure if that was your stomach or Kyuubi growling at you for a minute," Sasuke said honestly.

"Don't say that," Naruto grumbled, not liking the idea of hearing Kyuubi's voice now outside of going to "visit" him in addition to now hearing Sasuke's voice. Sasuke's voice was one thing; hearing the voice of a demonic beast in your head was another. "Maybe I should eat breakfast first before we go. Lots to do today! Gotta see Tsunade-baa-chan, Kakashi-sensei, and my family."

Again Sasuke remained silent as Naruto went about making breakfast, better known as ramen. Sasuke wasn't quite sure how he felt. Naruto, it seemed, had already stopped mourning for the loss of his body, and he honestly wasn't surprised. Naruto tended to bounce back quickly. However, Sasuke wasn't so sure he wanted Naruto to tell Tsunade he was living in his body, and he was sure he didn't want Naruto to tell Kakashi that everything was okay with the fact that he had destroyed his body. Sasuke could see why Kakashi had did what he had; it still didn't lessen the fact that thanks to him he no longer had a body.

A loud slurp from Naruto made Sasuke scowl.

"What's the matter now?" Naruto asked through a mouthful of ramen after feeling the scowl.

"It can't be good for your body just eating ramen all the time," Sasuke mused.

"I don't think it's good for my body that it seemed to morph back and forth this morning, but I'm still alive. Don't worry so much, my body will be fine," Naruto said. Then his eyes widened. "Oh I get it! You're concerned because you're embarrassed about being stuck in my body, aren't you?"

"That's not true. You have a very nice body," Sasuke nearly purred. Naruto blushed. It was the second time that Sasuke had said something about his body that morning, and he wasn't sure how to respond. The two of them had had sex on several occasions, but having Sasuke living inside his body was more intimate than he could have imagined. Sasuke seemed more affectionate than before, and Naruto didn't know how to respond to that. He wasn't sure if Sasuke losing his body or if Sasuke killing Itachi had made him develop this strange change (or a bit of both), but Naruto knew he was going to have fun exploring this new relationship.

"Hmmm." Sasuke made a thoughtful noise.

"'Hmmm' what?" Naruto asked.

"Well, I know that we discussed it last night, but I wonder if anyone will be able to see my features as you claim to see them when I begin to talk or make any less than subtle movements."

"Wait a minute! I thought you said you didn't think people would see you!"

"I said I didn't think so. It doesn't mean that I was correct. Perhaps we should test it out on someone first so that way people don't see you morphing between your features and my features all up and down the street."

* * *

"What do you want me to do, go up to the little kid and ask if I go back and forth between having two heads?" Naruto asked Sasuke sarcastically.

"I don't think you'll need to say anything. I'm pretty sure he'll react if your head starts morphing back and forth between two different heads," Sasuke deadpanned. They, well, Naruto really, had decided to take Sasuke's advice and see whether or not other people could "see" Sasuke. He had argued that if he could see Sasuke's face in the mirror that there was a big chance that others could see Sasuke's face appear. Naruto was also very concerned with the fact that his body had morphed part way into Sasuke's body and then back. Sasuke had changed his mind about testing it out on someone. He was all for letting people just deal with it, saying Naruto was known for his practical jokes anyway, and Naruto retorted that he wasn't like that any more. His practical jokes were few and far between now, and they would be much cooler than just morphing into Sasuke. Sasuke had then suggested having someone they knew see if they could tell the different, like Sakura, but Naruto said he didn't want to test it on someone they knew in case they really did think he was just playing jokes.

Naruto had found a young kid away from most people in the crowd nearby his apartment. The boy was sitting off by himself, building a little house with some stones. He was sure the kid wouldn't recognize him if he freaked the kid out, but Sasuke had told him Naruto was hard not to remember. They were currently "stalking" the kid, and Naruto finally decided the coast was clear enough to test out his theory. He walked up to the boy, and grinned broadly.

"Hello," Naruto said. The boy blinked at him curiously, but said nothing. "Umm, what's your name?" Naruto asked.

"My Mom said I'm not allowed to talk to people I don't know," the boy said.

"Er, well, I'm Naruto," Naruto said.

"There goes him not knowing who you are," Sasuke said. Naruto felt the sensation of Sasuke's facial movements "over" his own, and he watched the boy's reaction. The kid was either completely unimpressed with a person having two different heads and two different voices, or the kid really couldn't see Sasuke.

"I'm Apashi," the kid said.

"Well Apashi! It was nice meeting you. Have a good rest of the day, and keep listening to your Mom," Naruto said jovially, waving once, before turning and bounding off in the other direction. Naruto turned around once, seeing the kid staring at him apathetically before continuing to build his little stone house.

"Well, he didn't see you," Naruto said.

"Yes but if he sees _you_ again he'll probably think you're crazy for saying hello and then leaving," Sasuke said. Naruto shrugged.

"Let's go and see if we can get this worked out. I'm still not convinced everything's okay. What if your body – or worse – Kyuubi's body starts taking over mine again? That's not pleasant, and I like being me!" Naruto said.

"I'm not stopping you from going anyway. I can't," Sasuke said.

"Heheheh," Naruto laughed. "Right, then, umm, I'm going then, and I guess you're coming with me."

* * *

Naruto decided that he would actually go through the Hokage tower instead of just jumping into Tsunade's office through her window. He was hoping Kakashi might be giving a report, and therefore he might happen to see Kakashi on his way up. While he was still rather upset at the fact that Sasuke was sharing his body because Kakashi had killed Sasuke's body, he wanted to make sure that his uncle at least knew Sasuke wasn't gone for good. With any luck, Naruto could guilt him into helping him figure out how to find Sasuke a new body as well.

Naruto bounded up the stairs and waved cheerfully to those he saw, but was rather miffed at why they all seemed so shocked to see him. The people he saw seemed to force a smile on their face for him, and then wave at him a little sadly. Why were they all acting so weird?

"Oi, Baa-chan!" Naruto said as he banged on Tsunade's door before pushing it open and walking in. Tsunade was behind her desk, and she looked very strained. Naruto held back a snort. She looked like she had actually been doing paperwork, so that was probably why.

"Good morning Naruto," Tsunade said as she saw him. One of those obviously fake cheerful smiles that he'd been getting since he came into the Hokage Tower appeared on Tsunade's face as well, and Naruto knew something was wrong. Heck, she sounded really kind and sympathetic to him even. Something was definitely wrong.

"Geeze, what's with everyone today?" Naruto asked Tsunade as he walked closer to her desk. "Everyone seems in such a depressed mood." Sasuke slapped his own forehead, and Naruto nearly cried out at the contact as he felt Sasuke's hand on his head.

"Dobe. Everyone thinks I'm dead still. They don't know I'm stuck in your body. Everyone's being extra kind to you because they think you lost your best friend," Sasuke hissed out quickly.

"Oh, well, that makes sense," Naruto said, looking sheepish. Tsunade cocked her head to the side, looking at Naruto very concerned.

"What makes sense Naruto?" Tsunade asked, again very kindly, and very unlike herself.

"Haha! That's right! You can't hear Sasuke! I can hear Sasuke in my head and he was just talking to me," Naruto explained. Sasuke groaned. Tsunade frowned at Naruto, looking even more concerned than before. She stood up from behind her desk and gently took Naruto's hands. He was suddenly reminded of how motherly of him she could be, remembering the time that she had kissed his forehead and told him to become a good man and a great Hokage.

"Listen, Naruto. I know that sometimes it's hard for us when we lose those close to us. Sometimes we think we can still hear them speaking to us. I-I know it's hard, but you need to accept that Sasuke died," Tsunade said quietly. Naruto rolled his eyes.

"Baa-chan! That's not what's going on. Sasuke lives in me. I can feel and hear him. He's inside me right now-"

"Yes, Sasuke will always be inside you as long as you keep his memory alive," Tsunade said.

"Baaaaaaa-chan! Listen!" Naruto whined frustrated, and then clutched his stomach. Sasuke was laughing so hard that the feeling was making his own stomach vibrate. "Sasuke's not dead! Well, I mean, his body's dead, but his soul is in me. He's sharing my body like how Kyuubi shares my body. Instead of being in my stomach like

Kyuubi though, I hear him in my head and sometimes I can see him in the mirror because his face and body kind of overlap my own but only I can see him. We're having trouble figuring out how that works. I was hoping you could help us fig-"

"Naruto!" Tsunade said loudly, grasping Naruto's hands and turning him around to look at her. "Don't do this to yourself! I nearly lost my mind when I lost both my little brother and then my beloved Dan. Don't lose yourself in thinking you can see Sasuke. He's gone Naruto." Tsunade paused and gripped his hands even tighter, (but thankfully not with her monstrous strength) "But it's okay. You have a lot of people here who love and care about you too." Tsunade pulled Naruto in for a hug. While being hugged always felt nice, Naruto was rather frustrated (that, and she was a hugging him rather hard).

"I don't think she believes you," Sasuke chuckled.

"This isn't funny," Naruto mumbled quietly, hoping he was quiet enough so Tsunade wouldn't hear him. He also figured that her large breasts squashing his face would probably help muffle the sound to Tsunade's ears. Then again, Naruto didn't know that sound waves traveled through water, and her large breasts held...well, you get the idea.

"I know this isn't funny Naruto. This is very serious," Tsunade said, releasing Naruto from her vice like grip. "I know everything happened so suddenly, but," Tsunade paused. It was clear she was trying to comfort him and help him mourn, but Naruto was rather frustrated that she wouldn't listen to him.

"Tsunade-baa-chan," Naruto said exasperated, but made is voice serious to try and get Tsunade to listen to him. "I'm not making this up. Sasuke's soul is stuck in my body along with Kyuubi's. I think that Sasuke used something similar to Orochimaru's body transfer technique, but not quite because I'm still in my body too. But weird things are happening. This morning I woke up and I had Sasuke's left arm and Kyuubi's ears, but the fur was black like Sasuke's hair color. Then, a few minutes later, my arm and my ears when back to normal. Do you think you can do some tests or something or other to figure out what's going on?"

"Too bad those ears didn't stay," Sasuke said. Naruto ignored him, looking at Tsunade. She merely shook her head at him.

"Naruto, you're not making sense. You need more some time to rest and recuperate. Three years of your life were devoted to finding Sasuke, and it's just a big shock that he died. I'm sorry to do this, but I'm reliving you for your ninja duties for a month-"

"WHAT?!?!?!" Naruto bellowed. "You can't do that! I don't need to rest! I need to figure out what's going on with my body and then figure out what happened to Kisame's body and find what happened to Kabuto. Also, Dokueki is still miss-"

"Enough!" Tsunae said, finally raising her voice. "You're not well. You've just suffered a terrible emotional tragedy. You need to pull yourself together. Sasuke is dead, and you have to come to terms with that. Naruto, you're much stronger than I was when I lost my loved ones. I don't want to see you go through my pain. I will do my best to help you, and right now what you need is time to examine your drive in life. Sasuke pushed you in many ways whether he was here or not, and you need time to adjust. If you want to be Hokage one day, you need to learn how to take care of yourself too." Tsunade heaved a sigh and put her hand to her temple to massage the side of her head. "Spend some time with your family. You have a whole new group of people who want to get to know you. Think of this as time to be with your family," Tsunade said, and she smiled at Naruto gently.

Naruto felt his rage boiling, but he could tell that Tsunade wasn't going to listen to him any more today. He would try again tomorrow. He nodded at her curtly before leaving.

"Mean old hag. What is she getting at? She can't do that to me! Whenever anyone else's teammates have died, they don't get relieved from duty!" Naruto fumed angrily.

"They also don't go around hearing the voice of their deceased friends in their head. Naruto, she dismissed you because she thinks you're going crazy. You're lucky. If it were anyone else, they'd probably have been relieved from duty permanently for hearing voices in their head," Sasuke snickered.

"That's not funny! And why are you taking this so lightly? She's the best medical nin there is, and if anyone can figure out how to get you back into your body, well, a body, then it's her! Aren't you afraid you're going to be stuck inside me forever?" Naruto asked. Sasuke shrugged, and while Naruto couldn't see it, he could feel the strange sensation of Sasuke's "shoulders" overlapping his own and moving up and down.

"It's only the first day that we've been like together like this. Neither of us knows much about what's going on. We should figure that out first. I bet you didn't even pick up on what I am able to do either," Sasuke said.

"Huh? Pick-up on what?" Naruto asked confused.

"Exactly my point. It appears while I cannot _see_ what's going on outside of your body, I can _hear_ what's going on," Sasuke explained. "At least, I can hear things to an extent. It's probably not as clear as it would be if I had my own body. Why I still can't see, I'm not sure, but-"

"Wait, I got it! Isn't it obvious why you can't see?" Naruto asked, sounding excited, "You can't see out of my eyes because the eyes are the windows to a person's soul! It makes perfect sense! You're soul is not in charge of my body unless my mind is sleeping, so you get "window" duty then."

Sasuke grumbled something that sounded like "that could make sense in a weird sort of way," but it was clear that he was sulking because Naruto had figured it out before he had.

"Right where I thought he'd be!" Naruto said, interrupting Sasuke's grumbles.

"Where are we, and who are you talking about?" Sasuke asked.

"We're at the Konoha Memorial Stone, and we're going to tell Kakashi-sensei that you're spirit's still alive. He'll listen," Naruto said confidently.

"And why should we talk to him?" Sasuke asked clearly angry. "He shoved his fist through my chest and killed me - or at least killed my body."

"You shoved your fist through my body twice, at least once with the intent of killing me, and I still forgave you," Naruto said darkly. Sasuke didn't say anything, but Naruto could feel Sasuke's face turn slightly as though to say he had a point. While Naruto couldn't see his expression, he felt a small twinge of what felt like regret, and knew it wasn't his own.

Naruto approached Kakashi slowly, and it was clear that Kakashi was looking at the newest engraved name on the stone.

Naruto felt something in his stomach lurch as he saw Uchiha Sasuke now engraved amongst the names of the dead on the stone.

"When did they put Sasuke's name on the stone?" Naruto asked in way of greeting to Kakashi while allowing Sasuke to know what he saw.

"My name's on the stone? But I was a-" Sasuke began, but was interrupted by Kakashi, who, of course hadn't known that Sasuke was talking to Naruto.

"Last night," Kakashi said, his voice thick and sounding more muffled than normal through his mask. "The council wasn't sure whether or not they should put his name on it since he left, but he _did_ kill Itachi. I pleaded that they put it on. I have a feeling there was more to what Sasuke was planning, and he wasn't really trying to hurt you when he kidnapped you, but we won't know because I ki-" Kakashi broke off and balled his fist up, clenching it at his side. His single visible eye had a tear at the corner of it. Kakashi reached his other hand out traced his fingers over Sasuke's name. He then lightly traced his fingers over another name that Naruto didn't know, but was surprised to see that the other person was an Uchiha too. Kakashi let his finger wonder from where it had traced "Uchiha Obito" and then linger longer over Naruto's own father's name.

"Kakashi-sensei, I-I know why you did what you did," Naruto reached out his hand and gently placed his over top of Kakashi's balled up fist. "But it's okay! Sasuke is-" but Naruto's words were drowned out as Kakashi (like Tsunade) gripped Naruto in a bone crushing hug.

"I'm so sorry Naruto!" Kakashi said. "I know that you and Sasuke were involved together before he left, but when I thought you were dead, I thought I'd lost my only family yet again. Please, you don't have to pretend to be okay with the fact that I killed Sasuke, but please, please don't hate me."

"I don't hate you," Naruto gasped out through the tight grip Kakashi had on him. He wanted to tell Kakashi to let go, but he knew that Kakashi was terribly distressed so refrained. He felt awkward. Never had Kakashi seemed to upset and broken before, and Naruto didn't know what to do. Everyone was acting so emotional today.

"Never knew Kakashi could be so emotional, but, I do remember him telling me that he lost all of his most important people before. I guess he's just been good at wearing masks to hide how hurt he is. I guess I can't fault him for wanting to kill me if he thought he was trying to avenge his family," Sasuke murmured in acceptance.

"Can't - breathe!" Naruto choked out, but Kakashi didn't hear him.

"If Kakashi decides to let you breathe again, tell him that I forgive him," Sasuke said.

"Ka-ka-shi-" Naruto choked again, and Kakashi finally released his death grip on his nephew. Naruto took a gulp of air, and looked at Kakashi who seemed unaware of having nearly choked Naruto to death.

"I should head to the Hokage's office. Just before you got here, Yamato-san told me that Tsunade-sama wanted to see me," Kakashi explained, and before Naruto could even attempt to explain his predicament, Kakashi had vanished. Naruto reached out his hand, as though to try and keep him from leaving, but put his hand back down pathetically at his side.

"Do you kind of get the feeling that I'm never going to be able to explain our problem, or is it just me?" Naruto grumbled.

"I think Kakashi is more likely to listen and believe us, but just make sure not to get him when he's so emotionally unstable himself," Sasuke said calmly.

"Yeah, I guess. I mean, I never really thought how hard it must have been for him. I know he lost his father, and then he lost his brother before he even knew he was his brother. It looks like he lost a really important friend too." Naruto scratched the back of his head. "I guess I never really thought about all the tragedy that Kakashi-sensei might have gone through."

"Before I left to go to sound, he told me that he had lost everyone once dear to him. He was trying to relate to me, to warn me, and I wished I had listened," Sasuke murmured quietly. Naruto merely nodded, and then scratched his head again.

"But, what if everyone's right? What if I can only hear you in my head? What if I'm going insane?" Naruto said, questioning himself.

"Everyone? What do you mean everyone? You only really talked to Tsunade," Sasuke said, rolling his eyes.

"Yes, but she's the Hokage-"

"-since when has that mattered to you?"

"-and it makes sense. Why would I be hearing your voice? Why can't I see you?" Naruto asked, his voice starting to become panicked.

Sasuke smacked himself on the forehead, and Naruto almost yelped.

"Ow, what was that for?" Naruto asked, rubbing his head.

"Because if I were just an imaginary thing in your head, I wouldn't be able to do this-" and Sasuke smacked his own forehead again, which, of course, Naruto could feel.

"_Ow!_ Stop that!" Naruto said angrily. "Okay, I get it," Naruto grumbled, his momentary hysteria leaving him just as quickly as it had come. "This is just all too weird."

"You've mentioned that several times. Just relax. Neither of us knows exactly what is going on at the moment. Right now people will assume that you're grieving for my supposed death. They may or may not act weird around you. Others will also be mourning for me, like Sakura," Sasuke said. Sasuke frowned slightly, realizing that there probably wouldn't be too many people that would seriously mourn his death for him. He was sure that his former fangirls would all be devastated, but there were few that he really knew himself.

"Why are you frowning?" Naruto asked, feeling Sasuke's frown over top of his own.

"Nothing much really. Shouldn't you go and see your family?" Sasuke added, hastily changing the topic of conversation.

"Forgot!" Naruto said, smacking his own forehead, and pausing.

"..."

"What?"

"From what I can see of your soul in your body, you look like you expected smacking your forehead to hurt me. Remember I can see your soul in the spirit realm; I know what actions you make, but I don't feel them, dobe," Sasuke said, smirking. Naruto grumbled something about not trying to smack his head to smack Sasuke back, but he was clearly pouting.

"That's not fair that you can touch me and I can't touch you," Naruto grumbled before sighing. "I guess I should go and find my family. Geeze, that's weird to say," Naruto said grinning widely, bounding off to where the Sen family, to where his family lived. On the way Naruto was lost in his thoughts, unaware that he had a rather depressed look on his face.

"What's the matter?" Sasuke asked, unnerved at how quiet Naruto seemed. He was used to Naruto being loud, but seeing him (at least, Naruto's "spirit form") looking upset bothered him. Sasuke realized that while he and Naruto had spent a lot of time together when they had been on team 7, he had hardly seen Naruto for nearly three years. What things about Naruto had changed?

"I can't touch you," Naruto murmured.

"Obviously not," Sasuke said, frowning.

"I mean, I can feel it when you touch me, but _I _can't touch _you_. What if I can't _ever_ touch you again?" Naruto asked. Sasuke was silent for a moment. It was something that he had realized last night when he had been awake in Naruto's body. He could touch Naruto, but would he ever really feel what it was like for Naruto to touch him again?

"What does it matter?" Sasuke asked. Naruto shook his head.

"What does it matter?" Naruto repeated Sasuke's question. "It matters because you're my..." Naruto trailed off, looking for a word to accurately describe Sasuke's relation to him in their current relationship.

"Most important person?" Sasuke supplied.

"Yeah. I just don't like the idea of never being able to be close to you again. It's just nice to be so comfortable around someone to be touched and what not. I mean-" Naruto stopped mid sentence and gasped. Sasuke had run a finger gently down his own "spiritual" cheek, an action that Naruto felt.

"Dobe. I can still touch you. If you're worried about no one caring about you, well you're an idiot. I know what you mean about wanting to be physically close to people. Don't worry about it," Sasuke said, caressing his own and thus Naruto's cheek as Naruto continued to head to his family's place. "And you have your family now too," Sasuke said, his voice becoming quieter.

"Will you be okay?" Naruto asked.

"I'm part dead, of course I'm not okay," Sasuke bit out harshly. Naruto rolled his eyes, the tender moment broken.

"I meant will you be okay with me being around my family?" Naruto asked quietly. He was very attuned to people's emotional well being, and he was apprehensive of Sasuke seeing him around his family. "I mean: you won't feel alone?" Naruto asked. It was Sasuke's turn to roll his eyes (though with Sasuke it was more a slight look up).

"Just because you have a family now it doesn't mean you can't relate to how I felt before," Sasuke said. Naruto smiled.

"You'll like my family. My great-grandfather is really super-hyperactive. I've never met anyone quite like him," Naruto said thoughtfully. Naruto's only response was a shake of the head from Sasuke.

* * *

Next Chapter: Daimyo or Ninja?

A little more romance in this chapter, but not too much yet. Don't worry; it will come. :-) FYI, anyone who is interested can leave me their e-mail address and I will do my best to e-mail everyone. I wasn't organized before, and people would ask me to e-mail them, and I'd forget. I actually have a list now, so feel free to leave it, especially those on aff. net who don't get alerts like on ff. net. _Please note if you leave your e-mail: on please leave your e-mail address in the slot for e-mail, or put spaces in it like so: IloveNaruto yahoo . com, or else it will not show up. _Hope you liked this chapter! - Jelp


	3. Chapter 3: Daimyo or Ninja?

This chapter is dedicated to Kaikouen. I don't even know if she reads this fic, but for some reason, instead of writing the name Kyohaku for Naruto's grandmother, I kept writing Kaikouen. So this chapter is dedicated to her since her name kept popping up.

Sorry for the lateness of the chapter. Life has been hectic. The past month and a half. I've had papers like you wouldn't believe. Lots of papers, including a 23 page paper, a 72 page paper, and an 103 page paper. Not to mention I've had a number of health problems that have just made me feel horrible. :'( Ah well…

Anyway, my (late) Christmas/Chanukah/Kwanzaa/Yule or (early) End of the Year gift to you all is a bit of smut at the end of the chapter. :-) Enjoy.

**Identity Crisis**

**Chapter 3: Daimyo or ninja? **

"Who's who again?" Sasuke asked Naruto exasperated. As they had gotten closer to the Sen family home, Naruto listed off the names of his entire family that he had met just a few days ago to give Sasuke a heads up. Naruto had been surprised when he had actually remembered everyone's names. He supposed since they were his family they had made a deeper lasting impression on him and thus stuck in his mind more vividly than those he had met on missions. However, Naruto's ramblings had been done with enthusiasm, and just a bit too excitedly for Sasuke to understand really who was who, hence Naruto needing to repeat the names to Sasuke.

"Hmmm, well, I guess the people you really need to remember are my grandmother: Kyohaku, my great grandfather: Sen-san, my great-grandmother: Izanami, and I think you already know the daimyo, er, my uncle,-Shijimi and his wife Lady Shijimi."

Sasuke was half tempted to say "that lady we rescued the cat for is your _aunt_?" but refrained from making a negative comment about Naruto's new relatives. All anyone had to do was look at who Sasuke was related to - like Itachi. Enough said.

"What about all those other people you were talking about before?" Sasuke asked.

"I guess you really don't need to remember them right now. From what I gathered, I happened to meet everyone on a good day. It was my great-grandmother's 80th birthday party and not everyone lives there all the time. Only my great-grandparents, the daimyo and his wife, and my grandmother still live there. Most everyone else lives rather far away. My grandmother, Kyohaku, explained that when my great-grandfather heard that shinobi wanted to come to talk to her, he was rather wary. So he suggested they come on the day of my great-grandmother's birthday so that way if he needed to, he could use her party as a family affair to get them to leave," Naruto explained.

"A good tactic to use if you're not sure what to expect from others. It puts the other person at a disadvantage," Sasuke said, nodding. Naruto scowled.

"Stop nodding like that! It really throws me off. I feel like I have another head that's coming out of my body when you do that," Naruto complained.

"You try and be still in a spirit realm. I don't even realize what I'm doing half the time," Sasuke retorted.

"Well you're losing your touch. I thought you were really good at controlling everything," Naruto said, unable to resist the urge to taunt Sasuke.

"I have lost my touch, and possibly permanently," Sasuke said curtly, though even Naruto could tell that he didn't seem overly upset about having lost his own body. Naruto had been surprised at how at ease Sasuke seemed living in his body. Naruto would have assumed that Sasuke would miss being in his own body, and especially miss his sharingan. Somehow Sasuke's indifferent acceptance unsettled Naruto. "I'm finding controlling one's body is _much_ easier than controlling one's real emotions as well as controlling internal workings in the spirit real," Sasuke tried explaining.

Naruto remained silent, not sure how to respond. He sighed. He knew Sasuke was probably still getting used to his new self, and Naruto had no idea what to do to help Sasuke – if he even wanted help. In part, Naruto felt very little sympathy for Sasuke because if he had just been straightforward from the beginning, he felt that Kakashi wouldn't have misunderstood Sasuke's intentions. Yet Naruto hoped that there had to have been other complications and reasons why Sasuke did what he had. He was going to make sure to pick Sasuke's brain about it later. Right now, he had family to see.

As he approached the Sen Family home, Naruto noticed his great-grandfather outside of the main house. Naruto shook his head. He couldn't believe he was related to people who had a separate house for their servants. He came from a family with servants for crying out loud! Not that that was bad, but…it was just unexpected. Not that he hadn't ever dreamed about some rich, long lost family coming to claim him during his youth, but to actually have it brought to reality when he had outgrown such childish hopes was just a little odd.

At first glance, Naruto thought that his great-grandfather had a bucket and mop in his head and was cleaning the front steps. Then he took a closer look and realized that his great-grandfather was using a large calligraphy brush and just water to write kanji on the ground. Naruto felt slightly nostalgic at the sight. The monks where he grew up used to practice writing in the sand or writing with water on the pavement with the large brushes. It was supposed to be a meditative exercise. Sen-san looked up from what he was doing and waved happily as he saw Naruto approaching. The water from the brush in his hand as he waved sprayed off in different directions, and Naruto laughed at the sight of his great-grandfather acting so carefree. Sen-san was a relatively short man with graying, waspish hair, yet despite his wrinkles, he seemed to exude a sort of youthful radiance.

"Naruto!" Sen-san greeted jovially, a smile on his face before suddenly looking more serious. Naruto was reminded of the looks that the people at the Hokage's office had given him, and he realized that even his great-grandfather thought he was mourning Sasuke. He wondered just how much his family had heard about Sasuke's and his relationship. Then again, him running off crying from Sasuke's funeral yesterday was also probably a bit of a giveaway that they had been pretty close.

"Sen-san," Naruto said in return greeting, but Sen-san shook his head.

"You're my great-grandson. You should at least call me Jiji," Sen-san said. Naruto smiled widely.

"Morning Jiji!" Naruto said, liking the way that seemed to roll off his tongue.

"I'm pleased to see you this morning Naruto. We were worried about you yesterday," Sen-san said.

"Ah, sorry," Naruto said awkwardly, rubbing the back of his head. Sen-san shook his head slowly.

"No need to be sorry Naruto. You went through a strange ordeal and then your," Sen-san paused, clearly trying to put a name to the bizarre relationship he had had with Sasuke, "_friend_ died." Naruto merely nodded his head. He didn't think it was a good idea to try and explain to his great-grandfather that the person his family had assumed to have kidnapped him was not only still (sort of) alive, but his soul was residing in Naruto's body. Of course, Sasuke was there along with the Nine-Tailed demon fox. Oh, and he and Sasuke were secret lovers too. Yes, he thought he could wait a while before revealing some of that information. He didn't want to scare his family off.

"Naruto!" Naruto turned his head to see his grandmother, Kyohaku, emerging from the house. Her silvery-blonde hair was pulled back in a bun save for a few strands that had fallen loose curled around her face.

"She doesn't sound old enough to be your grandmother," Sasuke said. Naruto was about to say "she doesn't look old enough to be my grandmother either" but decided not to respond since he was sure that his great-grandfather, despite his age, still had relatively good hearing. Kyohaku did not even bother to wave as she immediately glided gracefully down the front steps and swept him up in a hug. Naruto tensed ever so slightly before relaxing into her embrace.

"We were so worried about you," Kyohaku said, her tone full of concern, pressing herself even closer to Naruto. Thankfully, unlike Tsunade and Kakashi, she didn't squeeze him in a death grip, but it was obvious she had a nice, strong grip. She smelled like flowers, and Naruto idly wondered if his mother had used a perfume too.

"Sorry," Naruto mumbled. Kyohaku released him reluctantly from her embrace and gave a small pat to his head.

"No need to be sorry. You probably needed some time alone to think for a bit. If you need to talk, I'm here to listen," Kyohaku said kindly. Naruto smiled at her gratefully. Both his grandmother and great-grandfather seemed more worried than angry that he had run off from the funeral without speaking to them. He smiled shyly, and then realized he was acting much more bashful than he usually did. Why was he being so different around his family? This wasn't like him.

Sasuke felt a little left out as he watched the "spirit" Naruto's reactions. It was odd to see Naruto seem so coy. He knew that Naruto was also happy, but he wished he could see what Naruto's family looked like to see why Naruto was acting so oddly. At the same time, Sasuke couldn't help but feel somehow jealous that Naruto was reunited with his family. Sasuke could never get his family back. He and Naruto had been able to bond through their loneliness. Things would be different now.

Due to his brooding, Sasuke completely missed the fact that Naruto's family had invited him (well, Naruto) inside and Naruto was commenting about how it was nice to see his great-grandmother as well. Sasuke shook his head, trying to concentrate on what was being said, berating himself for missing the fact that Naruto was greeting his great-grandmother. He should be happy for Naruto. Sasuke saw Naruto's spirit form put a hand to his head, and then grit his teeth as though in discomfort. It took a moment to realize what was the matter with Naruto, and Sasuke nearly laughed. He had forgotten that shaking his head had probably made Naruto look so disgruntled. Naruto had not been expecting him to shake his head, and it had caught Naruto off guard.

"Sorry," Sasuke said, smirking. Naruto looked like he was having trouble not making a nasty retort to Sasuke since he had forgotten that shaking his head made him uncomfortable. It was clear that Naruto would have responded had it just been the two of them, and Naruto's clear desire to answer him back somehow made Sasuke relax. He knew that given the circumstances Naruto would love to talk to him, but it would make him look rather insane to talk to him when only Naruto could hear him. Sasuke was sure talking to his "dead" friend, especially in front of his family, was something that Naruto should avoid lest he be dubbed insane. Sasuke contented himself to listening to the conversation as Naruto's family engaged him in small talk about themselves, clearly trying to help keep Naruto's mind off of (Sasuke had to smirk at the irony) the "death" of his friend.

* * *

Naruto could tell that Sasuke was rather restless in his mind, but Naruto couldn't help that. Sasuke made a few comments here and there that showed he was at least being encouraging, despite Naruto's inability to talk back to him. Even so, it was nice for him to get to know his family, and so far, he was learning a lot about them. His great grandparents and grandmother were clearly trying to "help" him get his mind off of Sasuke's "death" and were talking about themselves instead of asking him personal questions. Naruto was grateful. He wouldn't have known where to start explaining his life to his family other than his ambition to become Hokage – which he had mentioned already briefly. 

"Naruto-kun!" a deep voice rumbled from behind him. Naruto turned around in his seat to see his great-uncle, the daimyo, walking in. Naruto and his family had sat down in a living room type area to chat, and Naruto was a little thrown off to see someone else walking into their conversation an hour later without knocking but then remembered the daimyo lived there too. It was strange for him to see so many people living under one roof. He had lived alone for the majority of his life, and before then, living with monks at the temple hadn't really felt like a home. He felt odd. Naruto knew that this was how some families lived, but to know that this was his family – it was all still mind boggling to him.

His Uncle beamed widely at him, and Naruto pulled himself back from his thoughts as he noticed his uncle held no trace of trying to tiptoe around someone who had just lost a close friend.

"Hello!" Naruto waved jovially to Lord Sen Shijimi. He was glad to see that at least someone wasn't treating him like he was a fragile being. Naruto had also decided that he liked his great uncle, and to see him without his great aunt - and her cat - somehow made him all the more likeable. Naruto was the first to admit he wasn't fond of his great-aunt. And he felt bad for her cat.

"Just the man that I wanted to see," Lord Shijimi said, clasping Naruto on the shoulder.

"Shiji, now's probably not a good time for that. _Too soon_," Kyohaku hissed to her brother, clearly trying to be quiet so Naruto wouldn't hear but of course he had.

"Oh, hush up Kyo. Stop coddling the boy," Lord Shijimi whispered back. Naruto had to hold back a smirk as he watched his grandmother and her older brother banter back and forth, finding it endearing how the two of them had nicknames for each other.

"Better now than never," Sen-san said, putting a comforting hand on his daughter's shoulder. Kyohaku sighed and turned to look at her grandson. All eyes turned to him, and Naruto suddenly got the feeling that he might not necessarily like what was going to be discussed next.

"As you probably know, my wife and I have no children," Lord Shijimi said. Naruto merely looked at his uncle, wracking his brain to the other day when he had been introduced to his cousins or his father's cousins (that was weird to think about), or however they were related to him. Thinking about it, he didn't recall any of them being the son or daughter of the daimyo. Naruto nodded slightly after a moment, and Lord Shijimi continued. "Since I have no children, the position of daimyo would then be given to the second eldest child and that family line."

"Is he seriously implying what I think he is?" Sasuke asked Naruto, and Naruto burned to answer Sasuke's question.

"Naturally I'm getting on in years myself," Kyohaku said. "When the time comes that Shijimi decides to retire, it won't make sense for me to take on the position."

"I never understood that. Retire? Why aren't you daimyo for life?" Naruto asked, confused looking at his great-grandfather who he knew had once been the daimyo of Konoha. He had wondered why he was no longer the daimyo when he still seemed to have so much spunk left in him.

"We are required to retire at sixty to ensure a clear line of succession. Not that I expect any of my children, or grandchildren, or great grandchildren to ever be malicious but it's the law. There is always the possibility sometime down the road that the death of a daimyo without a clear line of succession can throw the local landlords into a war as they all fight over the position of daimyo. The children could also argue about who will become next in line. However, since Shijimi has no children, and Kyohaku would be the next in line to take on the title, it wouldn't make sense for her to be daimyo for only a few years before she retired herself," Sen-san explained.

"And since I'm her grandson," Naruto began.

"We thought it best if you became the next daimyo," Lord Shijimi said, smiling. "A powerful ninja as the daimyo would make sure to keep the local landlords in order. Not that any of them are out of hand, mind you, but we don't know how their children will be when they take on the position."

Naruto scratched the back of his head, his thoughts in turmoil. He thought there was a lot of what ifs in what they were talking about.

"Well, I'm flattered and all-"

"We'll talk about it more later," Kyohaku said quickly, placing her hand lightly on Naruto's wrist and squeezing it gently. Naruto looked into her eyes, to see that she looked slightly panicked and he refrained from flat out refusing. She smiled at him. "My brother likes to throw things out there all at once!" Kyohaku laughed, breaking the slight tension that had filled the room.

"I'm hungry," Sen-san said, rubbing his stomach. "We've been talking for some time. Let's eat!"

* * *

Naruto left his family's home after dinner, both his stomach and his head full. After lunch, he and his family hadn't talked any more about their request for him to become daimyo. He had stayed the remainder of the day learning about his family, and then left after a late dinner. 

"That was unexpected," Sasuke murmured thoughtfully. Naruto didn't even need him to clarify that he was talking about the idea of Naruto becoming daimyo.

"No shit," Naruto grumbled. "I could tell my grandmother didn't want anybody to approach me about it just yet though."

"I wonder when they'll expect you to become daimyo," Sasuke said thoughtfully. Naruto snorted.

"I don't want to be daimyo. Daimyo's have a lot of paperwork and stuff to do. I want to become Hokage!" Naruto said enthusiastically. Sasuke slapped his forehead, making Naruto growl at Sasuke as Naruto rubbed his forehead.

"Idiot. Becoming Hokage means lots of paperwork to do too," Sasuke said.

"Yeah, but it's _different_. I doubt I'll get to do missions being a daimyo. I'm a _ninja_. I need to be out there protecting Konoha," Naruto explained as he jumped from one rooftop to the next. Sasuke was going to argue the point further that he didn't think that his family would let Naruto _not_ become daimyo. Sasuke did his best not to mentally sigh lest he give his doubts away. He didn't think that Naruto realized that his family hadn't been _asking_ him. Naruto was unaware of the workings of powerful families. Sasuke had been raised in a very well to do clan, and he knew some of the politics behind what went on, and he had made connections he was sure that Naruto hadn't.

If Kyohaku was the second eldest, by default, she should be the next daimyo if the lineage went solely by age succession. Therefore her young grandson could not escape the duties. It was his heritage, one that he would have to fulfill sooner rather than later.

Sasuke knew that there had been a policy instituted in Konoha that the daimyo had to retire at the age of sixty in order to get new leadership and policies changed within Konoha. It also helped the Hokage, the higher "ruler" of Konoha, to be more powerful. If what Naruto had told him was true, Kyohaku was 57, which meant that her brother was nearing 60. Which meant that they needed a new daimyo - and soon. And whether she liked it or not, Kyohaku would be daimyo until she turned 60 years old, and then Naruto would be the next daimyo by default.

"This day has felt so long," Naruto said, yawning. "I'm going to bed." Sasuke watched as Naruto's "soul form" stretched. Naruto's spirit self suddenly began to look fuzzy to Sasuke as Naruto's eyes began to droop. Naruto proceeded to slip into his pajamas and then slip under his covers. "'Night Sasuke," Naruto murmured.

Something that Sasuke hadn't thought about all day since that morning popped back into Sasuke's head as Naruto's spirit form became even fuzzier.

"Naruto?" Sasuke asked, but Naruto had fallen asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow. The next thing Sasuke knew, he was looking at Naruto's pillow, once again "in control" of Naruto's body. "_Naruto_," Sasuke hissed, this time, his voice coming out sounding like Naruto's. Sasuke looked over at the clock on Naruto's bed, noting that it was just a little after 9:00 in the evening. 9:00! That was early, especially for Naruto. He flung the covers off of himself. "Wake up!" Sasuke said again. He really wanted to talk to Naruto, but he didn't know how to reach Naruto's unconscious self while he was sleeping.

After wiggling around, yelling at himself, closing his eyes and concentrating on trying to find Naruto's soul, hitting himself – or rather, Naruto's self – on the head to see if Naruto would once again take control of his body, Sasuke conceded that Naruto's soul was at rest for the night. Sasuke sighed. What was he to do in Naruto's body until Naruto woke up? As far as he knew, he didn't need to go to sleep. He decided he would use the time to enjoy the freedom of once again being elsewhere than Naruto's conscious.

Sasuke got out of Naruto's bed, tentatively feeling Naruto's body and how different it felt to be inside of Naruto. Last night he had hardly moved let alone gotten out of bed because he had honestly been scared that he might have pushed Naruto's soul out of his body, and taken it over like Orochimaru had done to his victims. Sasuke had been so relieved the next morning when Naruto had woken up and Sasuke hadn't pushed his soul out (though he wasn't going to ever tell that to Naruto because he had felt so foolish for thinking about it in the first place). But tonight, he knew for sure Naruto would "come back." So Sasuke decided to do a little exploring, not at all hesitant to use Naruto's body in any way he saw fit.

The first thing he noticed was that Naruto smelled rather foul. He wasn't sure when Naruto had showered last, but he figured Naruto wouldn't mind if Sasuke gave him one. Sasuke slipped out of Naruto's pajamas and headed to the bathroom. It was quite an experience. While Sasuke had had to pretend to become others in henge form before, he had always still been distinctly _Sasuke_. He looked at himself in the mirror, watching his own expression on Naruto's face. Sasuke smirked in the mirror, finding that he liked Naruto looking serious back at him.

Sasuke got in the shower, blushing as he remembered the first time that he and Naruto had fooled around (when Naruto had been fully awake anyway) had been in here. Sasuke turned on the shower, remembering everything that had happened.

_Sasuke grabbed Naruto and pushed him roughly into the shower. _

Sasuke turned on the shower and grabbed the soap, feeling a very similar sensation as Naruto's body reacted to Sasuke's thoughts as Sasuke recalled some of his favorite intimate experiences with Naruto.

_The grinding was much harder, much more intense than the slow experimentation on Naruto's living room floor. Naruto took the opportunity to try and push Sasuke back, but Sasuke's grip was unyielding, holding Naruto's arms down at his sides and grinding against him._

Sasuke began to moan as he explored Naruto's body, feeling heated as he began to pump himself with Naruto's hand. It was a strangely erotic feeling as he controlled Naruto's body to pleasure himself. The warm water felt good as he imagined it was Naruto was who touching him so intimately - which was very easy to do since Sasuke was using Naruto's own hand. Sasuke licked his lips, relishing in the way it felt to control Naruto's tongue as he ran it slowly across pink lips. He could vividly remember the way that Naruto's mouth felt on his body, wishing he could feel it again now, especially on his lower region.

_"Mmmmmmm," Naruto hummed, making Sasuke's penis jerk happily inside of Naruto's mouth at the wonderful vibrations, followed by Naruto snaking his hands up and gripping both of Sasuke's butt cheeks hard, pushing himself forward onto Sasuke's cock. _

"Nnn," Sasuke moaned, becoming even more aroused at hearing Naruto's voice - even though it was coming from his own body as more and more erotic images assaulted his mind.

_"Naruto," Sasuke moaned, finding himself lost within Naruto. The friction, kami-sama, how the friction made him hot. He gripped Naruto's shoulders and drove himself deeper, Naruto making delicious noises beneath him. Sasuke leaned his chest against Naruto's back and moved his hands so they were grabbing Naruto's biceps as he found a way to drive himself as deep as possible inside Naruto's tight and heated body. Sasuke began leaving love bites along Naruto's neck and shoulder, kissing and biting through the orange fabric Sasuke wished he had thought to remove before jumping Naruto._

"Naruto," Sasuke mouthed wordlessly as he recalled the time that Naruto and he had had nearly endless, rough sex, both of them fighting for dominance. He remembered the way they had fought to be on top, the way that Sasuke wanted to put Naruto in his place, only to realize being beneath Naruto felt so damn hot too.

As his panting became heavier, Sasuke grasped at the bathtub wall with his free hand. He imagined he was back in his own body, imagined that it was indeed his hand on Naruto, pumping at him, thrusting into him from behind. Imagined Naruto's body pressed against his, the water pouring over both of them, his heated skin touching Naruto's -

"Naruto!" Sasuke panted as he came -

And in a rush, Sasuke felt as though he was being sucked backwards as he found himself once more inside of the soul realm.

"Sasuke," Naruto said breathlessly, and Sasuke watched as Naruto's spirit self became clearer to him. Naruto was panting heavily, his eyes looking groggy. "Were you masturbating while in control of my body?" Naruto asked him incredulously, still panting slightly.

"Well if it wasn't me, then you were sleep-masturbating," Sasuke snapped. His emotions were still in a whirl from being assaulted with such intimate images of his and Naruto's passed. He had tried so many things to wake up Naruto, and Naruto had woken up when Sasuke had been thoroughly enjoying himself.

"Bastard. Still enjoy molesting me while I sleep I see," Naruto grumbled. Sasuke couldn't help but smirk. "I can feel you smirking!" Naruto said. Sasuke's smirk only grew.

* * *

Naruto awoke the next morning feeling extremely comfortable and somehow sated. His entire body felt warm and rested as he lay nestled snuggly in his covers, his brain slowly forming memories from the night before. Naruto had been slightly shocked to wake up in the shower as he began to orgasm. Naruto almost chuckled. Sasuke had actually used his body to jerk off, and he wasn't sure if he was more amused or more annoyed at the fact that Sasuke was still molesting him while he slept. Naruto realized that Sasuke probably wanted time to "move around freely" while "in control" of Naruto's body, so Naruto had decided it wasn't worth the effort to try and tell Sasuke he was not comfortable with the idea of Sasuke being out and about in Konoha as him while he was unaware of what was going on. All he asked was one: Sasuke didn't do something stupid, two: not to jerk off again without warning him (or at least coming up with a way so he'd enjoy it), and three: to return "their" body back to Naruto's bed so that Naruto wasn't shocked if he woke up on a rooftop or something. 

Naruto yawned widely and scratched behind his ear - before stopping dead mid-motion.

"I wondered when you were going to figure out something was wrong with your body again," Sasuke's voice said, and Naruto could feel Sasuke rubbing his temple.

"I have fox ears again, don't I?" Naruto asked.

"That's not the worst of it," Sasuke said, sighing. Naruto's body stiffened as he began to realize just how his body felt and realized what his body was feeling. It wasn't blankets that he was snuggled in. It was tails.

Nine fluffy red-tails with black tips to be exact.

"At least you don't have paws," Sasuke supplied. Naruto nearly growled. Yesterday Sasuke had said "At least you don't have a tail," and today he had woken up with NINE of them.

"Shut-up, Sasuke. Just shut-up."

**Next Chapter: Teammate or Snake? **

Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Please let me know what you thought. - Jelp


	4. Chapter 4: Teammate or Snake?

**Identity Crisis**

**Chapter 4: Teammate or Snake?**

Naruto found that the next few days (and especially the next few mornings) were rather awkward and tiresome as his body reacted to having multiple entities residing in it. He never knew how he would look when he awoke, and it frustrated him. The only thing that frustrated him even more than not knowing how his body was reacting was that Tsunade still refused to listen to him about the fact that Sasuke now resided in his body.

Naruto spent his days trying to either convince Tsunade that he was not insane, and that Sasuke really was inside his body, or visiting his relatives. Naruto had wanted to talk to some of his fellow shinobi friends, but it appeared that Tsunade had sent all of them out on missions since none of them were in Konoha.

He had heard from the guard, Raidou, at the gates of Konoha that Iruka-sensei was on a retreat with some of the students from the Academy. According to Raidou, Iruka had tried getting out of it because he had wanted to stay behind to see how he was coping with Sasuke's death, but Tsunade hadn't been able to find a replacement for Iruka to go on the retreat. Naruto almost felt bad. Iruka-sensei had always been there for him, and Naruto hadn't spent much time with him since he had returned to Konoha. Of course Naruto hadn't spent much time with anyone but his family – and Sasuke – since he had returned. Not that he hadn't tried to spend time with other people it was just that none of the original rookie nine or team Gai were around either (at least according to more information he had gotten out of Raidou.)

Tsunade was also making sure that Sakura was being kept busy at the hospital. Naruto had even gone to the hospital in order to try and talk to Sakura at one point, but she had needed to help a patient. She had looked at him sadly before going off to tend to her patient. Even Kakashi was nowhere to be found, but Naruto wasn't so sure that Kakashi had a mission. Naruto had a sneaking suspicion that Kakashi was avoiding him on purpose, probably still feeling somewhat guilty for killing Sasuke.

Desperate for someone else to speak with, Naruto had finally decided to seek out Sai. Naruto knew that he was in Konoha, but he also knew that Sasuke didn't like him for some strange reason. For that reason, Naruto had purposely saved searching for Sai for last. Not that it had made any difference. Even when he had convinced Sasuke that Sai wasn't so bad, Sai hadn't helped at all. Sai explained to Naruto how Tsunade had told him that Naruto was hearing Sasuke's voice, and Naruto hadn't been able to explain to him what had happened. Then when Sai had decided he should try and comfort Naruto for his loss, he hadn't quite known what to say. He had looked up some "helpful" advice in a book for when people pass away. So far the advice Sai had quoted at him included "Sasuke is suffering no longer," "He would want you to move on," (though Naruto didn't quite know what that meant), and Sasuke's personal favorite:

"He's in a better place," Sai had said mechanically, trying to smile in a way Naruto assumed was supposed to be sympathetic. Naruto had left unsatisfied that Sai really had understood what Naruto had been trying to tell him. It was maddening that he couldn't explain himself.

"Is being in my body a better place?" Naruto asked Sasuke darkly as he headed back to his house.

"Depends on which 'in' we're talking about," Sasuke smirked slightly, keeping his more lucrative comments to himself rather than irk Naruto with them while he was clearly so distressed.

"This is so _frustrating_! No one believes me!"

"Again, by no one, Tsunade is the only one you've really told. _Sai_," Sasuke said his "replacement's" name with some contempt, "might actually listen to you - if you could write down your predicament in a book."

"That's not funny! We can't go on like this. If no one believes that you're living in my body, how are we supposed to find you another body? And what about me? What's happening to my body? I keep going through the weirdest morning transformations after you've been in control of my body," Naruto grumped as he entered his apartment and headed for his bedroom.

"Just show them how you look for the first five minutes or so after you wake up every morning," Sasuke suggested.

"I can't do that! They'll just think I'm even more unstable. I mean, come on, this morning I woke up with your head on my body. Yesterday was even weirder! I woke up with a fox-like face for the first time, and I had three tails! That one time I had nine tails! I never know what it's gonna be. What happens if I wake up looking exactly like a miniature Kyuubi with full fox face and nine tails? What happens if I wake up looking exactly like _you_?" Naruto said moodily as he sat on his bed.

"Is there something wrong with waking up looking exactly like me?" Sasuke asked slightly miffed. Naruto blushed and said nothing.

"I'm just confused. I'm not allowed to do any missions. My family is being great - except I can still tell they want me to become daimyo. Depending on what Tsunade's told everyone about me, I haven't gotten a chance to see any of my friends to explain that I'm not really insane. I haven't even seen Sakura-chan for crying out loud. And Kakashi-sensei's avoiding me!" Naruto said frustrated as he flopped down heavily onto his bed. "If you weren't really in my head, I think I really would go insane due to frustration," Naruto muttered quietly. Naruto closed his eyes, as he felt a gentle touch to his forehead, indicating Sasuke was massaging his own head to think. It was one of the few actions that didn't catch Naruto off guard. In fact, he actually rather enjoyed the touch. "And I still can't touch you," Naruto murmured as he opened his eyes lazily to stare at the ceiling.

"Go to Tsunade's office and show her what happens to you after you've slept. It can't be good for your body to keep going through those transformations," Sasuke said thoughtfully, purposefully not commenting on Naruto's mention of his inability to touch Sasuke.

"Transforming doesn't really hurt though. It's not like when I get the Kyuubi's power and take on his shape. It feels more like a henge where my body is just pretending to look like someone else's," Naruto said thoughtfully. Sasuke still doubted that it was good for Naruto's body, but Naruto continued before he could voice his thoughts. "And I still think it will cause more problems by telling Tsunade about it," Naruto said firmly. He raised his right hand in the air and examined it, wondering what was really going on with his body. He knew whatever it was it wasn't something people would be too thrilled to hear about. "Tomorrow I'll go and track down Sakura instead. She's a medic-nin; maybe she'll know," Naruto said hopefully.

Sasuke remained silent. So far, out of respect for Naruto's wishes, he had refrained from leaving Naruto's apartment while Naruto's mind and soul rested and Sasuke was in control of Naruto's body. It was a strange feeling when he was in control, and not just because he was in someone else's body. The strange feeling stemmed from the fact that he had no real desires or motivations though he felt he probably should. He had no real desire to wander anywhere other than Naruto's apartment. He had burned down his old home, which had felt good to get rid of those memories, and he felt the only home he needed was whatever place Naruto decided to call home.

Truth be told, besides when his family was alive, Sasuke couldn't remember ever feeling more at peace than sharing Naruto's body with him. He was beginning to think it wouldn't be so bad if he stayed with Naruto permanently. The only problem was, Naruto clearly didn't like the idea that Sasuke was sharing his body. Sasuke refrained from heaving a mental sigh, lest Naruto ask why he was doing so. Naruto was stressed, and Sasuke wasn't quite sure how he would take Sasuke's idea of being together like this permanently. There was still so much that Naruto had wanted to do with his life, and Sasuke knew that. After fulfilling his revenge, Sasuke's ambitions ended there.

Being with Naruto was the only other thing that Sasuke had any real "desire" for, and he was doing that fairly easily. Learning to become powerful had served his purpose. If he had his own body, he was sure that he would have liked to continue being a ninja, but he wasn't sure if he would have even been allowed to do so if he had come back with Naruto alive and well. His death had apparently been payment enough to clear his name of his traitorous ways, or at least, Kakashi had thought so. He was the one who had persuaded the council to have his name etched in the memorial stone of fallen ninjas of Konoha. It a twisted way, Sasuke was grateful to Kakashi for killing him. He just wished that he would stop sulking and talk to Naruto. It was beginning to really piss him off that Kakashi was just avoiding Naruto especially now that Kakashi knew Naruto was his nephew. With a twinge of nostalgic pain, he remembered his own aunt and uncle and how they had been around for him when he was younger. Sasuke wanted Naruto to experience having a family like that – even if he felt almost jealous in sharing Naruto's attentions.

"Have you thought about trying to find Kakashi first tomorrow?" Sasuke asked Naruto. Naruto groaned.

"I'm sure I could find him tomorrow sometime at the memorial stone. Ero-sennin once told me that the reason Kakashi is always late is because he stares at it all the time. He's apparently there early in the morning," Naruto grumbled. "I don't want to get up early in the morning if I'm going to have five tails and your head attached to my body."

"How about your head, three tails, and my body? Would you go then?" Sasuke asked amused. Naruto frowned as he lied down on his bed.

"That's not what I meant smart ass," Naruto said and then sighed. "You're different," Naruto muttered.

"Having no body of my own does make me a little different," Sasuke said sarcastically, but he thought he knew where Naruto was going with this train of thought.

"You know what I mean," Naruto said a little testily. Sasuke didn't respond. "You've become more at ease, and more sarcastic. And I wonder if this is how you would have been if your family had never been killed."

"But they were killed, and this is how I am now, so that can't be it."

"Well then _what_?" Naruto huffed. "You have changed. Sarcasm, lewd remarks, strange trains of thought! It's like you're turning into me or something!" And with that statement, both Sasuke and Naruto had the same epiphany.

"I am taking on part of your personality, aren't I?" Sasuke murmured. "Perhaps its more than just our bodies trying to merge."

"Hn," Naruto responded. As Sasuke raised his eyebrows at Naruto's tone, Naruto rubbed at his own eyebrows and glared, hoping Sasuke's soul-self could see his displeasure at Sasuke's actions.

"And I think you're taking on some of mine," Sasuke added. There was a moment of silence as they both digested this new piece of information.

"But you're more like me than I'm like you," Naruto said firmly.

"You wish dobe," Sasuke said, smirking.

"I like being Uzumaki Naruto," Naruto said firmly before continuing. "Tomorrow we'll find Sakura and ask her if she has any ideas about how to get you your own body that doesn't involve Edo Tensai," Naruto said, and Sasuke nodded slightly off-guard that Naruto had mentioned Edo Tensai. Sasuke personally didn't like to think about it because it reminded him too much of Orochimaru and Orochimaru's desire to take over his body. So far neither he nor Naruto had spoken before about Edo Tensai during their brief discussions on how to get Sasuke his own body. It didn't sit well with Sasuke that Naruto had thought about using Edo Tensai, the jutsu that Orochimaru used to summon back the dead by using human sacrifices, and he was surprised that Naruto had thought about the idea, let alone said it.

"I still think we should ask Kakashi," Sasuke said.

"We'll look, but after we find Sakura."

"You should get some sleep," Sasuke suggested. Naruto frowned.

"I'm not really that tired though," Naruto said.

"Yeah, but I like molesting your body when you're sleeping," Sasuke said lewdly.

"Sometimes, you scare me."

* * *

Somewhere in the back of his mind, Naruto knew that he was dreaming. For starters, he was looking at a man that Naruto could only describe as being the Yondaime Hokage, his father, standing right in front of him.

Naruto debated on whether or not he would try to wake himself from the dream - since he knew he was definitely dreaming - or let it play out. He'd never had a dream about his father like this before. Usually if he dreamed about his father, his father was a man whose face remained shadowed throughout the dream or whose face he couldn't recall upon waking. This wasn't like that at all. His father looked very much like the pictures of Yondaime he had seen growing up.

His father smiled at Naruto. Naruto smiled back, trying to take in as much detail as he could, but Naruto was only able to vaguely identify his surroundings. He couldn't place if they were at one of the Konoha training grounds of if they were at the Konoha Ninja Academy. The dream setting around him seemed unable to focus in his dream, and he just decided to satisfy himself with staring up at the face of his father during his dream.

"It's not a good idea Naruto," his father said, his wide smile turning a little sad as he spoke. The voice was familiar to Naruto somehow, yet he knew he must have been literally minutes to hours old if and when his father had ever spoken to him before his death. "You know my voice because I used to press my lips against your mother's pregnant belly and speak to you to calm you down. You used to get the hiccups every evening at 9:00. It would go on for thirty minutes unless you heard the sound of my voice."

This was _definitely_ a dream because Naruto hadn't spoken, but his father had somehow known what he had been thinking about the familiar sound of his voice.

"It really isn't a good idea Naruto," his father repeated.

"What isn't a good idea?" Naruto asked.

"What you're thinking of doing," Yondaime said.

"What?" Naruto asked frustrated. There was no response. "What isn't a good idea?"

"It just isn't."

"WHAT isn't a good idea?!" Naruto yelled.

Suddenly the hazy surroundings of his dream evaporated, and the next thing Naruto knew he was sitting up in bed drenched in sweat. He felt chilled and he wasn't sure why the strange warning in his dream had made him feel so uneasy. It had just been a dream after all. Still, Naruto ran a hand through his hair wondering at the dream.

"Nightmare?" Sasuke's voice asked. Naruto almost jumped at the sound of Sasuke's question, forgetting that Sasuke also lived in his body.

"Yeah, kinda," Naruto muttered. He looked out his window, noting that it was still dark out. He then examined his body, expecting to see some bizarre new twist to it as he usually did in the morning.

"Nothing changed," Sasuke supplied, noting Naruto's soul-form examining his body. "It was strange though. You were muttering in your sleep, and that seemed to prevent your body from changing while you slept. What were you dreaming about?" Sasuke questioned.

"Something weird," Naruto said, and Sasuke didn't press him for more details. Naruto pulled the t-shirt he had been wearing over his head, and used it to dry the sweat off of his chest and back before throwing it to the ground and pulling the covers up onto his bare torso.

Naruto lied there unsleeping for a long while, thinking about the strange dream. He felt chilled, and he couldn't figure out if it was because of the sweat that still lingered on his body that had long since cooled or because of the bad feeling he had about the dream. What the hell had his father been telling him wasn't a good idea? And how had his brain supplied that weird information about him having hiccups when his Mom was pregnant with him? And why was he so paranoid about the stupid dream anyway? He rolled over onto his side and then onto his other side, and then back onto his back. He let out a frustrated sigh, wondering if he would get any more sleep tonight.

Naruto wondered if Sasuke would have any ideas, but he wasn't sure how Sasuke could help. Naruto knew that Sasuke must be seeing his "soul-self" or whatever Sasuke saw being so restless, so it wouldn't do any good to pretend that he wasn't anyway.

"Sasuke?" Naruto murmured.

"Hn?"

"It's just-" Naruto bit on his lip. "Never mind."

"What is it?"

"Nothing, it's stupid."

"Knowing you, that wouldn't surprise me, but I'm curious and have nothing better to do. I'd rather you stop worrying about it so that you go back to sleep so I can be in control of your body again and continue jerking off again in peace," Sasuke said, smirking.

"Asshole," Naruto hissed knowing full well Sasuke hadn't been doing any such thing, but the taunt somehow put him at ease. "It's...well - it's a question about babies."

"If you don't know where babies come from by now-"

"Shut up and let me finish," Naruto hissed again, but Sasuke's comment had had the effect Sasuke had wanted it to have on Naruto in that Naruto blurted out his question instead of hemming and hawing about it. "Do babies get the hiccups when their mother's still pregnant with them?"

Sasuke was silent for a moment, and Naruto thought that Sasuke was going to call him stupid and say he hadn't ever heard of such a thing before he finally spoke.

"My Mom loved to tell me the story about how I used to get hiccups every morning around 4:15am when she was pregnant with me. My hiccups would wake her up in the morning, and even though she knew it was just the hiccups, it was like I was trying to get her attention even so early in the morning. She told me that was how she knew I was going to be a handful," Sasuke murmured that last part.

"I guess it's true then."

"Naruto?" Sasuke asked after a few minutes of silence.

"Yeah?"

"Did you dream you were pregnant?" Sasuke asked, the smirk evident on his face.

"Bastard."

* * *

Naruto (who had fallen asleep rather quickly after his talk with Sasuke) awoke the next morning with three tails, his own face, and Sasuke's body.

"Does this mean we're going to find Kakashi?" Sasuke snickered.

"I'm beginning to wonder if you control how I look when I wake up," Naruto grumbled as he paced around his apartment, his tails swishing behind him as he waited for his body to transform back to his normal body. "We're going to see Sakura this morning. If we're lucky, we can get her before she has to report to the hospital to help out."

"So you'll go see Sakura looking odd but not Kakashi?" Sasuke asked darkly. The tone was not at all bantering, and sounded much more like the Sasuke Naruto was used to hearing than he had just a moment before. Naruto grinned.

"I'm waiting to look normal," Naruto grunted out, but then he smirked as he thought about what Sasuke's comment had really meant. "Jealous?" Naruto asked. Sasuke didn't respond, but Naruto thought he could feel a blush on his cheeks, and he knew it wasn't his own that he was feeling. Naruto had half a mind to taunt Sasuke about him being jealous of Sakura, but he decided he would rather Sasuke look forward to going to see Sakura than not.

It took about ten minutes for Naruto to look normal again before he headed to Sakura's house. Her mother answered the door and told him to head on up to her room. Naruto was a bit surprised by the immediate way that Sakura's mother had accepted him inside her home. The last time he could recall seeing her she had been one of the mothers that had preferred her kid didn't play with him when they were younger. Naruto smiled at her, and she just smiled back in that consoling way that everyone seemed to be smiling at him recently.

"She probably thinks you're mourning me as bad as Sakura is," Sasuke said. Naruto would have liked to said something to Sasuke about that statement, but as Mrs. Haruno was still there looking at him, he decided just to head up the stairs towards where Mrs. Haruno had pointed out Sakura's room. Naruto didn't need to be told where to go though since he could feel Sakura's chakra fairly prominently. He knocked on the door that he thought would be her room, and she opened it immediately, her face showing little surprise to see him there, obviously having sensed his chakra as well.

"Naruto," Sakura greeted as she swiped a tear away. "I'm glad you came. I wasn't sure if I should come to see you or not. Tsundade-shishou told me you weren't coping well and that she thought you would need some time with your family," Sakura said.

"I think you're coping pretty good," Sasuke said, but of course, Sakura couldn't hear him.

"Tsunade's been keeping me busy at the hospital; I suppose she's doing so to take my mind off of Sasuke but," Sakura put a hand to her mouth as her face constricted as she held back the stronger emotions. "It's my fault. I promised myself that I would be the one to take care of both of my boys, and I did nothing at all. If I had only been able to see you were really in a hypothermal state sooner, I could have told everyone there was a chance you were still alive. It's my fault! I was just so distraught because I thought you were dead. But you were right there in my arms! I should have noticed it sooner. It's my fault. I should have been able to tell that to Kakashi-sensei. And now we'll never know what Sasuke had planned," Sakura said, biting her lip at the end of what she was saying, looking at Naruto as though she wanted to ask him if he knew what Sasuke had been planning. "I'm sorry I let you down Naruto," Sakura said.

Naruto wasn't sure what to say to her. "It's not your fault."

"It feels like it is," Sakura said as she stepped forward and hugged Naruto.

Sakura hugged Naruto tightly, and all Naruto could do was pat her on the back lightly. He wasn't sure how to comfort her. He knew that he should tell her about Sasuke but he wasn't sure how to go about it. So far all the people he thought would believe him hadn't. He didn't want Sakura to think he was crazy too. It didn't help that she seemed so unstable right now. Naruto didn't want to upset her further if she didn't believe him. He was sure that she would be worried sick about him.

"Sakura-chan," Naruto said quietly, trying to voice his thoughts. He looked around her room, realizing it was the first time that he had ever been there. It was an orderly room with the normal things every shinobi has, and he noted it almost felt like his room with all the similar things; kunai, scrolls, shinobi clothing, their genin Team 7 picture, a bed, a small closet with the standard shinobi sandals, a pair of slippers, Dokueki curled up in a corner of the closet -

_Dokueki?_

Naruto did a double take, and his hand froze mid-pat as he stared open-mouthed at what looked like none other than Sasuke's mischievous snake summons Dokueki. Her body was curled around a pair of fuzzy pink slippers, and her head was poking from around the corner with her tongue in the air as though using it to sniff around. Naruto realized she probably was. Dokueki suddenly landed her eyes on Naruto and appeared just as surprised to see him as he was to see her.

"Naruto?" Sakura asked, realizing something was wrong with Naruto when he had gone rigid. "What's wrong?"

Dokueki put the end of her tail up to her mouth as though to make a "shushing" gesture not to mention she was there.

"I think I might be going insane," Naruto said.

"Dobe, we've been through this. I'm really here in your body. You're not insane-" Sasuke began, unaware that Naruto was seeing Dokueki, and thinking that Naruto was referring to him.

"I know what you mean," Sakura said, nodding. Naruto felt his head buzzing with what felt like three different conversations all directed at him. Dokueki wasn't even _saying_ anything, but the fact that Dokueki was there in Sakura's room was just such a big shock. Sakura began to say something about how she felt that she was going insane from Sasuke's death too. Naruto wasn't processing all that she said. He closed his eyes firmly for a moment and re-opened them looking back at the spot where he had seen Dokueki, only to note that she wasn't there any more. He shook his head, wondering if he really _was_ going insane.

"-and I just can't believe that after all that we went through to try and bring him back that he's gone already," Sakura finished. Naruto nodded his head numbly.

"I'm sure that Sasuke would appreciate to know how much you miss him. And I know he wouldn't have blamed you," Naruto said.

"Hn," Sasuke confirmed in Naruto's mind even though Sakura couldn't hear him.

"You're dealing with Sasuke's death a lot better than I thought you would. Much than I am too," Sakura said. She glanced over at her clock and then back towards Naruto. "I need to get going or I'll be late for my shift at the hospital," Sakura explained. Naruto nodded in understanding, and he followed her out of her room, down the steps, and out the front door. He glanced up at Sakura's window from the outside, wondering if he should go back up to her room to see if he had really seen Dokueki or not.

Sakura gave Naruto a quick hug, distracting him from his thoughts. She smiled sadly at him before heading off to the hospital. Naruto looked at her as she got lost in the crowd down the street. He remembered when there had been a time that he would have done anything to get a hug from Sakura. Now he would do anything to get Sasuke's body back so that he was able to get a hug from him.

Naruto looked back up at Sakura's window again, thinking he must just still be frazzled after his strange dream last night and had simply imagined seeing Dokueki.

"You didn't tell her," Sasuke said, making Naruto decide not to go to Sakura's room just yet. He'd have to come back anyway to tell her.

"I will. I just haven't figured out when or how to tell her. I don't think it's a good idea to put more distractions on her right now when she's supposed to be going to the hospital and focus on patients," Naruto said wisely as he managed to find a lower looking roof and jump onto it as he headed in the direction he thought he would find Kakashi.

"Hiya Naruto!" Naruto practically jumped out of his skin at Dokueki's sudden appearance at his shoulder. He nearly missed his step to the next rooftop.

"Dokueki?" Sasuke asked in surprise, hearing her voice even though he couldn't see her.

"_Where the hell did you just come from?_" Naruto demanded, startled.

"Sakura'ssss room silly. You just saw me there," Dokueki hissed, wrapping herself tightly around Naruto's upper arm. "Sweet Naruto warmth! Her floor was so _cold_. And I didn't want to wrap myself around you too tightly because it might make you jump. One of my abilitiessss issss that I can actually wrap around people without them feeling it, but the only down side of that issss that I don't get their warmth. You're alwayssss so warm. You know, I missed you."

"Dokueki was in Sakura's room?" Sasuke asked incredulous.

"How did you get in Sakura's room?" Naruto asked.

"Well, you see, after Sasuke left to go fight Itachi, I decided I ought to stay out of trouble. I hid at the campsite where you two had been naughty the night before the fight with Itachi. I waited there for a while listening to the battle. A little while after the battle seemed to have ended, while I wassss hiding in a tree nearby, I heard a group of people come to the site. I thought I smelt Sasuke, but hissss smell seemed off somehow –"

"Probably because I smelt _dead_," Sasuke murmured

"-and I couldn't tell if it wassss a trap or not since hissss smell wassss off. But I knew you were there because I could smell you. Assss the group passed by the tree I was in, I waited for what I thought to be your backpack to sneak into again. At least, I had _thought_ it wassss your backpack because it smelt like you. It turnssss out it wasn't your pack, but that girl Sakura'ssss. She had ramen in her backpack. Did you know that you smell a lot like miso ramen?" Dokueki asked curiously.

"You mean you were hiding in a tree, couldn't see people very well, but thought you smelt me because I smell like Miso ramen and you ended up accidentally hiding in Sakura's backpack since she had Miso ramen in it?" Naruto asked.

"Yessss. I realized my mistake assss soon assss I came into contact with the Miso ramen package that it clearly wasn't you," Dokueki said.

"What was Sakura doing with Miso ramen in her backpack?" Sasuke asked. Naruto rolled his eyes at Sasuke, hoping Sasuke could see the action in the soul realm he was it. Sometimes, he didn't understand his friend. Dokueki was thankfully alive and well, and all Sasuke wondered about was why Sakura had Miso ramen in her backpack!

"Sakura probably had Miso ramen in her backpack because she knows it cheers me up," Naruto said, thinking about how Sakura had tried to coerce him to wake up the night after he and Sasuke had had sex after he had seen Sasuke in what he had thought was the first time in three years.

"You sure smell like that stuff. You must eat a lot of it. So, anyway, any leadssss assss to where Sasuke issss at the moment?" Dokueki asked jovially as though unconcerned with the lack of Sasuke's presence – er – physical presence.

"What?" Naruto asked.

"I know Sasuke can't really be dead. That can't have been his body on the funeral pyre. Something about it didn't smell quite like Sasuke," Dokueki said firmly and assuredly.

"That was Sasuke's body," Naruto said, his voice getting higher pitched at the end as Dokueki squeezed tighter around him. "Will you please loosen up?!" Naruto said as he began to cough at the fact that Dokueki was ever increasing her pressure around his neck and arm.

"But you're so warm," Dokueki whined.

"Grab her tail and pull her away from you like a whip," Sasuke advised knowingly. Naruto frowned, but decided to give it a shot. He grabbed Dokueki's tail and whipped her away from him.

"Gaaaaaaaah!" she cried as Naruto then wrapped her more comfortably around his leg. "That wassss mean!"

"You were choking me!"

"If you're coughing then air issss still getting in and out," Dokueki grumbled.

"And you wanted to find her to make sure she was okay?" Sasuke asked, amused.

"Well it's hard to tell you that Sasuke's body is gone and his soul is now stuck in my body when I can't breathe!" Naruto yelled out.

"Sasuke'ssss in your body?" Dokueki asked. Before Naruto could say anything, she continued. "Well that makessss sense," Dokueki said, sounding unconcerned with the news that she had heard.

"No it doesn't," Naruto said, though pleasantly surprised that Dokueki seemed to believe him anyway.

"Yessss it doessss. Sasuke would do something like that - staying assss close to you assss possible. And I know he likessss being in your body. Tell Sasuke-"

"He can hear you, but he can't see you in here. I can hear him and translate what he says to you."

"Okay, I'll tell him then. Sasuke, you're an _ass_hole," Dokueki paused before taking a deep breath and yelling, "YOU LEFT ME ALL ALONE IN A BIG SCARY FOREST WITHOUT WARM NARUTO!!"

"For which I'm sure Naruto was grateful for," Sasuke chuckled.

"What is your obsession with me?" Naruto asked. His life felt like one big comedy at the moment.

"You're warm," Dokueki practically purred, nuzzling her head against Naruto's leg.

"I actually agree with her," Sasuke said.

"I'm going to find Kakashi-sensei. You two are driving me insane," Naruto grumbled, though he couldn't help the smile that spread on his face.

**Next Chapter: Advice or Warning?**

* * *

Recommended reading: A Love That Is Blind by lL0tus on fanfiction. net. I "edit" that fic. I don't do the final edit because stuff gets changed which makes me have to read and review it. T-T How cruel.

I have edited this chapter several times, but I've also had the flu during the whole process of finishing this chapter and then editing it. Please forgive any randomness or errors that slipped by my sleep-deprived and unwell brain. I hope you enjoyed the chapter anyway! - Jelp


	5. Chapter 5: Advice or Warning?

Sorry for the long wait. Long wait equals longer chapter though! Enjoy!

Special thanks to the _amazing _Starlight Devil who has made me a fanart of Identity Crisis! I feel so very flattered to have my very first fanart. Quite a gorgeous picture: starlightdevil.deviantart. com/ art/ Naruto-Identity-Crisis- 75808065 (remove the spaces to get the link.)

**Identity Crisis**

**Chapter 5: Advice or Warning?**

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto hollered, as he approached the memorial stone where Kakashi stood, staring at the names etched into the plaque. Naruto felt his heart racing as he saw that his uncle was where he had hoped he would be. He felt that if he got Kakashi to listen to him, then maybe he would be able to convince him that Sasuke's soul was really trapped inside of him. Naruto even had proof now in the form of Sasuke's snake summons. Dokueki was wrapped firmly around his leg muttering something about how warm he was, and Naruto couldn't help but grin widely. The entire time that he had headed to look for Kakashi, his mind had been whirling. It Dokueki hadn't vanished when Sasuke had "died," if she was still around, then that meant that Naruto had proof that Sasuke wasn't completely gone! A summon's should vanish with the summoner's death, right?

"Naruto," Kakashi greeted. "I was just about to leave-"

"No!" Naruto half-groaned, half-yelled. "I need help. You're being a really terrible sensei and uncle by avoiding me," Naruto said harshly.

Naruto watched as hints of different emotions passed through Kakashi's visible eye. He knew what he had said to Kakashi was harsh, but he would guilt trip Kakashi as much as he felt was needed in order to get Kakashi to listen to him and finally stop moping. It worked. Kakashi didn't move.

"First of all, you gotta stop moping. This isn't like you, and if I were you and you were me you'd tell me not to mope, and that you weren't mad at me and all that," Naruto said wisely, crossing his arms defiantly in emphasis.

"Add that I don't hate him. That might help," Sasuke said, and Naruto almost jumped, once again forgetting that Sasuke was in his head. It was ironic that as much as Sasuke was on Naruto's mind, the idea that Sasuke was in his body still caught him off guard at times.

"And Sasuke doesn't hate you," Naruto added. Kakashi looked at Naruto, his visible eye softening sorrowfully. A tenseness hung in the air as Naruto stared at Kakashi, pleading for his uncle to say something, pleading for him to stop being so unlike the Kakashi he knew.

"I don't hate you either," Dokueki hissed out. The tense atmosphere was broken immediately.

"She just makes you want to strangle her, doesn't she?" Sasuke groaned.

"I don't even know who you are," Kakashi said, and Naruto was pleased to note that Kakashi's eye seemed to have softened, and there was a slight upward crinkle to his eye, indicating a smile, even if it was small.

"This is Dokueki, Sasuke's summons' snake! She didn't disappear when Sasuke supposedly died, which means that he's still alive!" Naruto grasped Dokueki from around his body and held her up for Kakashi to look at.

"Thissss issss undignified," she grumbled at Naruto's treatment as Naruto held her up towards Kakashi. She stuck her tongue out at him and wiggled her tail, trying to swat at Naruto. "I'm getting cold," she complained as her head turned back to look longingly at Naruto. Naruto ignored her protests.

"Look! See! She's a snake summons 'cuz she can talk and all! She was Sasuke's snake summons. She's a bit of a pervert, kinda like you come to think of it, but she can help prove that Sasuke is still alive!"

"Naruto-" Kakashi began, and Naruto had known Kakashi long enough to know the note he had taken would indicate some sort of reproach or mini-lecture.

"No, listen, _please_! Sasuke's still alive, and his soul is inside my body. He's not dead; at least, not completely," Naruto said, his eyes pleading, begging Kakashi to believe him.

"She did not disappear when Sasuke died?" Kakashi asked, looking quizzically at Dokueki. Naruto's face brightened. He could see the wheels working behind Kakashi's head.

"Nope! She's been helping Sasuke from the beginning," Naruto said, relieved.

"Why didn't you disappear when Sasuke died?" Kakashi asked Dokueki.

"I hate going back to my summonssss realm. I avoid it at all costssss. Sasuke must be still alive since I am still here," Dokueki said. Kakashi put his finger and thumb up to his chin, thinking.

"Interesting. So you avoid the summons' realm?" Kakashi asked.

"Yessss."

"Who summoned you?" Kakashi asked.

"Sasuke!" Naruto interjected, annoyed, but Kakashi held up his hand.

"Who summoned you?" Kakashi repeated. Naruto turned to look down at where Dokueki was wrapped around his leg, noticing that she looked rather confused.

"What do you mean?" Dokueki said.

"Was it Sasuke or was it Orochimaru?" Kakashi asked.

"Sasuke," Dokueki said.

"I did," Sasuke confirmed.

"Hmm. Are you sure it wasn't Orochimaru and that he's still alive?" Kakashi asked.

"Of course she's sure!" Naruto said. Kakashi gave Naruto a look that silenced him.

"Naruto, I know you're desperate to have any connection that indicates that Sasuke is still alive, but you have to look at the facts. He is not alive-"

"Yes he-"

"Tsunade told me what you told her," Kakashi said. Naruto glared down at the ground. He wished that he hadn't said anything to Tsunade. He wished that he had kept his mouth shut about Sasuke living inside his body. Or at least, he wished he had thought to make it sound a bit more plausible.

Kakashi sighed, and ran a hand through his hair, ruffling it.

"Naruto, I know I have been avoiding you, and for that I am sorry. But you have to see reason. You come to me with a snake that is clearly a snake summons, a snake summons that once worked for Orochimaru-"

"He'ssss a bastard! I hated him! The cold prick!"

"-foul mouth and all, she needs to be interrogated."

Sasuke opened and closed his mouth, and Naruto put his hand up to his jaw, feeling the way that Sasuke's soul moved within his own body. Sasuke didn't bother to apologize for his sudden movement, despite the fact that it clearly had caught Naruto off guard. He hadn't thought of that possibility. Sasuke had never really thought of Dokueki as someone that could have been a possible threat to anyone, and it had never crossed his mind that a summons would be interrogated.

"Interrogated?" Dokueki asked fearfully. "With, cold, cold instrumentssss and all?"

"I have never heard of a summons that did not want to return to their respective summons' realm, and it seems a bit convenient for you to claim that you do not want to go back," Kakashi said.

"It's not like that at all!" Naruto said angrily.

"Naruto," Kakashi said sharply, and Naruto just glared at him. This wasn't what he had thought would happen. He thought it would help clear things up right away, not get Dokueki in trouble. "You have suffered a terrible, terrible loss. Grasping at any hope possible is not unusual, but taking unnecessary risks is not a good idea. Even if she was summoned by Sasuke, and even if she did not vanish with his death-"

"He didn't really die!"

"-there must be a logical explanation as to why."

"He's not dead," Naruto said, pleading with Kakashi to believe him. "Please, you have to believe me." Kakashi walked forward towards Naruto and placed his hand comfortingly on Naruto's shoulder.

"If your friend here cooperates, and we obtain some useful information, than we can go through all the possibilities of why you claim Sasuke is still alive," Kakashi said gently.

"You still don't believe me," Naruto said, accusingly.

"I want to," Kakashi said quietly. Naruto sighed. He knew that Kakashi was still upset about the fact that he thought he was responsible for Sasuke's death (well, he was responsible for destroying Sasuke's body, yet still), but everything would be so much better if Kakashi and everyone else would just listen to him and realize that Sasuke was not dead – but very much alive.

Sasuke was restless inside of Naruto's body, wishing that he could get out. He felt so frustrated that no one believed Naruto, and not just for his own sake. It was one of those instances that it just seemed so unfair that the truth was right out in front, yet no one was willing to recognize it. It was agonizing for Sasuke to watch Naruto go through the same torment Sasuke was sure Naruto had gone through as a child, all for his sake. He hated to think how Naruto was feeling as he tried to convince people of what he said, almost like how Naruto had had to convince everyone that he was not the demon that everyone associated him with. It killed him to watch Naruto have to defend his sanity when all the clues were right there if anyone just bothered to look at them properly.

"I will take Dokueki right now to the Hokage tower, and I will be the one to _personally_ speak with her."

"Fine. Let's go!" Naruto said slightly annoyed.

"Not with you there, Naruto," Kakashi said quietly.

"He'ssss scary! I don't wanna leave you Naruto, my love!" Dokueki said, and Naruto could tell she was really quite mortified. Kakashi looked down at Dokueki, amusement dancing in his eyes.

"You've got spunk. Don't worry. I won't make the mistake of mistreating one of my nephew's friends," Kakashi said. There was an unspoken "again" that hung in the air. Dokueki sighed, mumbling something about how she supposed it wouldn't be all that bad as she let Naruto hand her over to Kakashi. She grumbled as she wrapped herself around Kakashi's shoulder.

"I heard storiessss about you from Sasuke. You're supposed to be powerful but lazy. But did I hear right before? I didn't know that he'ssss your uncle Naruto," Dokueki said, looking at Naruto.

"I believe he did say I was his uncle – being a terrible uncle in fact – when he first saw me," Kakashi said.

"I wassss attached to Naruto. He'ssss too warm for me to properly pay attention to what he sayssss," Dokueki confessed.

"Hey!" Naruto said indignantly, just about ready to shove her over to Kakashi with that statement.

"You're hissss uncle, right?" Dokueki said to Kakashi.

"I think we just confirmed that," Kakashi said.

"Do you know that your nephew hassss become a man?" Dokueki said, wicked amusement laced in her voice.

"Wh-what?!" Naruto all but choked out. Dokueki glared at Naruto.

"You gave me up without a fight! I'm letting everything I know spill!" Dokueki hissed.

"If I had hands, I would strangle her," Sasuke said.

"Why you little-" Naruto said, as he himself reached out his hands towards Dokueki. Kakashi stepped back out from Naruto's reach even more amused than before.

"I could tell there was something spunky about you," Kakashi said, looking at Dokueki. Dokueki turned her head from Naruto to look up at Kakashi.

"I thought you were afraid of him. What happened? And Kakashi-sensei, don't listen to everything she says," Naruto said, his face crimson red in embarrassment at the types of things that Dokueki could tell Kakashi. His sensei. His uncle. Oh...how embarrassing! Kakashi gave a little wave, and a little grin as he vanished from sight with a little "poof" of smoke.

"The first thing I am going to do when I get a body back, is strangle her," Sasuke hissed. Naruto sighed, and rubbed his hands over his face.

"At least he's not pouting," Naruto said.

"I'd rather he pout than hear all that she has to tell him."

--

"What do you think she's saying to him?" Naruto asked, running his fingers through his hair. If Sasuke thought Naruto wouldn't complain about him doing so, Sasuke would merely have shrugged his shoulders for a response.

"Something perverted about our relationship," Sasuke said. Naruto could merely nod. He had headed back to his apartment, looking up at his ceiling, wondering at the bizarre day he had had. Going over to see Sakura had produced an unexpected friend...or whatever Naruto considered Dokueki...and then said friend had ended up being carted off by Kakashi for interrogation. However, with the way that Dokueki had gone so giddily with Kakashi gave Naruto a very, very _bad_ feeling.

While Naruto thought about all the different types of things that Dokueki could (and probably would) say that would make it quite clear to Kakashi the depth of the two males' relationship, Sasuke was pondering on how to broach the subject with Naruto about not finding another body.

Losing his body had been a deeper blow to Sasuke than he had realized. He had (almost) been willing to give up his body in order to pursue his dream of avenging his clan by killing Itachi, but now that he had no body, Sasuke wasn't sure he wanted another one. Having another's body seemed disgusting and vile to Sasuke. His body had been powerful, intact with a blood limit line no less. How would he find another body that he would be able to use without frustrating himself? It wasn't as though there were any more Uchihas left that he could take over their bodies, not that he would want to steal one from a family member...

And yet...

Without having a body of his own, and only able to "use" Naruto's body at night with very restricted limits of where he could go and what he could do, Sasuke had had a lot of time to think. While Sasuke had always wanted to kill Itachi, he had been somewhat distracted while in Sound with the idea of obtaining the mangekyou

sharingan through "killing" Naruto to think through a lot of things properly. Sasuke hadn't dwelt on the pain that he had felt, the hatred, the utter darkness that seemed to consume him at the thought of his brother. Instead he had focused on training and thinking about Naruto. Naruto had been his light while he was in Sound, and Sasuke was sure that if he and Naruto hadn't developed the relationship the way they had that things would have turned out quite differently.

However, now that Itachi was dead, and Sasuke had very little to do save think, a lot of things became clear to him that he was sure he would have thought of much sooner if Itachi really had been the only thing on his mind.

Sasuke had figured out why Itachi had wanted to kill his family. Itachi had been involved in an incestuous relationship with their cousin, but the real question that Sasuke hadn't asked himself before was how had Itachi managed to kill the entire clan all on his own?

It was something that had bothered him. Something that he couldn't get out of his head. He knew his brother was insanely powerful, but one Uchiha with a newly awakened mangekyou sharingan versus and entire and elite ANBU squad of fellow sharingan users? Something about it seemed off.

Sasuke was sure that Itachi's biggest opponent would have been their own father if Itachi hadn't had the advantage of being his father's prized child for so long. Itachi had had some sway of their father, even if it had dwindled towards the end of his father's life. Who would expect their own son to murder their father and mother? Not many. But to murder an entire clan on all one's own…?

"...probably drawing out the details on things she didn't even see..." Naruto grumbled, and Sasuke's musings were brought back to Naruto as he could hear Naruto flinging something up and down, the whizzing sound as it twirled and then caught in Naruto's grasp.

Naruto twirled a kunai in his hand, wondering what types of things Dokueki would say, wondering if it would get him in trouble in some way. Naruto knew that Kakashi had been somewhat supportive of his and Sasuke's "relationship" before Sasuke had left for Sound, but Naruto didn't know what everyone else would think. How would Tsunade-baa-chan react when she learned about his and Sasuke's relationship? Would she think he had an even bigger reason for him to be insane?

Sakura. What would Sakura think to learn that Naruto had been. – well, technically still _was_ – romantically involved with Sasuke? Sai. Heh. Sai wouldn't care, Naruto mused to himself. The worst from him would probably be a comment about the size of dicks and stuff. Captain Yamato...Naruto wasn't sure what he would think, but he seemed pretty laid back about things like that.

Naruto's family. Naruto groaned. He wasn't quite sure what his family would think if they learned that he liked guys. He had a feeling with the way they talked about him – or indirectly talked about him – becoming the next daimyo, they would want him to reproduce in order to continue on the family line or something like that. Naruto had never had the need to try and impress a family before, or fit in with family ties, and Naruto really didn't want to disappoint his new found family if they were homophobic. Not that he didn't like girls. Breasts were nice and all, and he had even liked Sakura for a long time.

The real issue was that he still loved Sasuke.

Naruto ran a hand through his hair, dwelling on that last thought. When Sasuke and he last has sex, he had been sure of Sasuke's feelings for him. But their situation had changed quite dramatically since then. He was fairly certain that Sasuke loved him, but how would that work out right now? Naruto shook his head, deciding not to dwell on that. He would find Sasuke a new body. But…would he be able to look at Sasuke in his new body as Sasuke?

And that haunting dream of the Yondaime – of his father – telling him what he was doing was wrong still rubbed him the wrong way.

"AAAARGH!" Naruto yelled, throwing the kunai so hard that it stuck in the ceiling. There was so much going on in his life; the death of Sasuke's body; Sasuke's soul's inhabitance in his body; the duties he was encountering with his family; a weird dream that left him puzzled and slightly disturbed; friends and loved ones who didn't believe him when he tried to tell them Sasuke was still partially alive; weird transformations of his body after every time he slept. It was all so damned annoying, and he felt that he had no control over any of it.

"Frustrated?" Sasuke asked, and Naruto was grateful to hear that Sasuke didn't sound amused, but rather more concerned than anything else.

"Yes," Naruto grunted. Naruto rubbed his eyes and laid back on his bed, feeling drained. He felt more and more tired as this whole mess dragged on. His body felt sluggish. "I feel really exhausted," Naruto said.

"I wonder if the fact that I take over your body when you sleep is beginning to wear out your body," Sasuke mused aloud. He had wondered for some time if the fact that Naruto's body going through strange and unexplainable transformation was taking a physical toll on Naruto's body. He didn't realize that Naruto felt tired though. For Naruto to say that he was tired was something big. Naruto was usually very proud of the fact that he pushed himself harder and harder, never giving up, never complaining about things being too hard or too tiring. Sasuke smiled, remembering the way that he and Naruto had trained so hard in order to learn how to properly concentrate chakra to their feet during the tree climbing exercise.

It seemed like so long ago that they were placed on Team 7, and that they were told that they would have to work together. Sasuke and Naruto had come a long way: that was for sure.

"What are you grinning about?" Naruto asked, feeling Sasuke's soul-self grinning over his features.

"Just remembering how competitive we were back when we first started training together," Sasuke mused. Naruto smirked.

"We _were_? I thought we still _are_ competitive with each other," Naruto said, grinning widely. Sasuke's smile vanished.

"It's a little more difficult for me now," Sasuke said quietly. Sighing, Naruto rolled his eyes.

"You're so negative. We'll figure things out. Once someone actually listens to me, I'm sure baa-chan or Kakashi-sensei or Sakura-chan will find a way to get you a new body," Naruto said confidently.

"What if I don't want to leave?" Sasuke murmured.

"Don't want to leave? I hope you don't want to leave Konoha again," Naruto said, his voice raising at the idea that Sasuke would want to leave. Sasuke shook his head, and Naruto groaned as he felt Sasuke's head moving overtop of his features.

"I mean, what if I don't want to leave your body?" Sasuke asked. Naruto's eyes widened.

"What? Why not?" Naruto asked, incredulous.

"What if I want to stay in your body with you?" Sasuke asked.

"Well that's just stupid. You can't do that," Naruto said. It was at times like these that Naruto wished he could see Sasuke's face. He could feel Sasuke's body tense ever so slightly, but he wished he could see the look on Sasuke's face. Sasuke might be good at hiding his emotions from other's, yet Naruto was sure he would have been able to read Sasuke's facial expression. Right now, Naruto was sure Sasuke wasn't happy about something.

"Why can't I?" Sasuke asked defiantly.

"This is my body," Naruto said.

"Why can't it be _our_ body?"

"What the hell are you talking about? Can you hear yourself? _Our_ body? Why don't you want your own body?" Naruto demanded.

"I like yours just fine. I won't get my real body back, so why go into a lesser body?" Sasuke asked.

"You can't be serious. I control my body," Naruto said, beginning to get angry.

"But when you sleep, I control your body," Sasuke pointed out. Naruto went rigid.

"You sound like what Shukaku did to Gaara."

"Are you accusing me of being a demon inside of you Naruto?" Sasuke accused icily.

"No!" Naruto said. "Damnit Sasuke, what's gotten into you? Why don't you want your own body?"

"I like being in your body."

"But I can't really touch you when you're in my body. I can't really feel you, and I know you can't feel me at all," Naruto murmured. Naruto and Sasuke didn't talk for a few minutes, Naruto looking up at his ceiling, wondering what Sasuke was thinking. Stay in his body? Why? It didn't make sense to Naruto.

"You won't ever be able to get rid of me if I stay in your body. You could get rid of me if I was in another body," Sasuke finally said. Naruto didn't respond.

Sasuke's words scared Naruto. To Naruto, Sasuke was beginning to voice more and more of Naruto's own fears. He liked the fact that Sasuke wouldn't ever be able to leave him again if he was stuck in his body. But that was what worried Naruto. It felt like what Sasuke was saying was more like something that he, Naruto, would say. And Naruto's own thoughts seemed more and more like Sasuke's.

It was like they were merging into one person, and it frightened Naruto to think that he might lose himself. It frightened him even more that Sasuke might lose himself to Naruto.

"I think we're becoming too much like each other," Naruto finally said.

"That's not a bad thing," Sasuke insisted.

"It doesn't bother you that we're slowly becoming more and more like each other?" Naruto asked.

"'Course not. Means you're getting smarter," Sasuke said, smirking.

"Asshole. Maybe you're getting dumber," Naruto snapped.

"Are you implying you think you're dumb?" Sasuke asked, amused. Naruto opened and closed his mouth, unable to come up with a coherent comeback for Sasuke's question. Instead, he settled for relying on insults.

"Jerk."

"Idiot."

"Prick."

"Bastard."

"Dobe."

"Sexy."

"..."

Naruto grinned to himself. "I win," Naruto said as he put his hands behind his head his grin getting wider and wider until-

THWACK.

"OWWW! You bastard!" Naruto yelled, clutching at his abused nose where Sasuke had punched himself hard in order for Naruto to feel it too. "Doesn't that hurt you when you do that kind of shit? Geeze!" Naruto asked, rubbing his nose. Sasuke's wince was enough to confirm Naruto's question.

"Maybe I am getting dumber," Sasuke mused. Naruto put his hands up to his nose, touching in gingerly. If that had been a real hit, it would have probably broken his nose. He half hoped it had broken Sasuke's spiritual nose.

"I'm going to go find Kakashi, see if he's gotten anything out of Dokueki. We need to get you out of my body, and fast. I don't think I would have even done something that stupid," Naruto said as he jumped out of bed, dashed out his door, and went off to find Kakashi.

--

"What do you mean we can't see Kakashi-sensei right now?" Naruto asked Iruka-sensei angrily. Iruka sat behind the desk of the Hokage tower, working as usual on his weekends when he had off from the Academy.

"By we, I think you mean to say "I." And what I mean by you can't see Kakashi-sensei, _**I**_ mean that he's busy at the moment and not to be disrupted," Iruka said calmly. Naruto crossed his arms and sighed. He hadn't seen Iruka-sensei in a while. He felt kind of bad. Of everyone, Iruka was the first to really care for him. Even so, he was frustrated that Iruka-sensei wasn't cooperating.

Naruto looked down at the floor debating with himself on what to say to Iruka-sensei. He could feel his old teacher's eyes on him, and Naruto didn't want to look up to see the same pitying look in his eyes that most everyone else had been giving him when they had thought he was grieving for Sasuke's death.

Sighing, Naruto scratched the back of his arm before looking up at Iruka-sensei, deciding that he needed to try and get someone to believe him that Sasuke was alive. (He wasn't sure Dokueki really counted in terms of helpfulness.)

"Ne, Iruka-sensei," Naruto said, using a voice that he didn't have to pretend to be happy and chipper. Iruka-sensei knew how to see through his false cheeriness anyway.

"Yes Naruto?" Iruka asked quietly, leaning forward in his chair, and placing his chin on his propped up elbows.

"Did...did Tsunade-baa-chan tell you she thought I was going crazy?" Naruto asked. Iruka looked down at his hands, and Naruto frowned. Iruka's silence was answer enough.

"Not in so many words, but she told me she was concerned. She said you've been hearing Sasuke's voice sometimes," Iruka explained calmly, in that caring teacher sort of way.

"He really isn't dead. Not really. His soul is inside me, and I can hear him talk to me sometimes," Naruto said.

"Tell him the very first day of class when I entered, he told me he was impressed with the way I positioned my grip on the kunai," Sasuke said suddenly. Naruto almost rolled his eyes. If Sasuke had only offered information like this before! Naruto repeated what Sasuke had said, telling Iruka that Sasuke had just told him.

Iruka's eyes widened ever so slightly.

"I did tell him that. But are you sure you're not just remembering things he told you?" Iruka asked. Naruto closed his eyes and clenched his fist. He didn't want to get mad, especially not at Iruka.

"Tell him..." Sasuke rattled off a long complicated formula for avoiding detection at a specific altitude in winds up to 30mph on a cloudy day with a temperature of 8.3 degree Celsius or 47 degrees Fahrenheit. Naruto had to hold up his hand when Iruka began to talk again so he could listen to what Sasuke was saying.

"Er...can you repeat that slower?" Naruto asked.

"I didn't say anything," Iruka said, looking confused and slightly concerned at Naruto's behavior.

"Sasuke's trying to prove that he's a genius, and I'm an idiot. He's saying this long complicated thing that he knows you would know I would never know in order to prove that he's in here with me," Naruto explained. Iruka raised his eyebrow in surprise, but waited as Sasuke slowly told Naruto the answer again, Naruto repeating it to Iruka in spurts.

Iruka's eyes widened as Naruto finished explaining the problem.

"If a kunai weighing .75kg hits another trajectory of the same mass going at..." Iruka began rattling off a problem that had Naruto's eyes glazing over.

"3.2 meters per second," Sasuke answered.

"3.2 meters per second," Naruto replied back automatically. Iruka's eyes widened.

"Oh my..." Iruka trailed off, slowly sitting back in his chair. "No offense Naruto, but I don't think I've ever had you correctly answer an elastic physics question, let alone produce a correct answer in your head," Iruka stated. Naruto slowly smiled, ignoring the slightly under-handed insult.

"So...you believe me?" Naruto asked happily. Iruka slowly nodded.

"YATTA!" Naruto yelled happily, launching himself over the table, and embracing Iruka in a huge hug. Well, he would have if Sasuke hadn't said;

"Don't make a fool or yourself, dobe."

"Listen, Naruto," Iruka began, looking at Naruto very seriously. "I do believe you, but you have to understand that what you're saying is a bit strange. You will have to wait for Kakashi to finish with the investigation he's conducting with your little friend," Iruka paused, looking kind of puzzled about the fact that Naruto had made friends with a snake. "More proof is necessary. The more we know, the better it will be to help you out," Iruka said, smiling. "Come back tomorrow. I believe they will need to keep Dokueki over night."

"Why keep her over night when-" Sasuke began, but Iruka (unknowingly) cut him off.

"I will see you tomorrow, then?" Iruka asked.

"Yep! Thanks Iruka-sensei! Ja matta!" Naruto yelled, waving at Iruka, a bounce in his step as he left the building.

Iruka's smile faded as he watched Naruto go.

"I told you he's adamant that Sasuke's alive," Kakashi said as he seemed to appear out of no where by Iruka. Iruka grit his teeth together and glared at Kakashi.

"Naruto's your nephew, and yet you don't believe him. I think you need to speak to your nephew before you go about making it seem like you know everything," Iruka snapped before turning and walking out of the room.

Kakashi raised his eyebrow, looking after Iruka. It wasn't the first time that the two of them had argued about Naruto. Kakashi clearly remembered the time that Iruka had tried telling him that Naruto was not ready to enter the Chuunin exams, and Kakashi had pushed for Naruto – and Sasuke and Sakura for that matter – to enter. Kakashi was sure that Iruka was just being over-protective.

"He'ssss probably just jealoussss," Dokueki said knowingly, popping her head out from underneath Kakashi's vest.

"Jealous? What do you mean?" Kakashi asked.

"Naruto'ssss your nephew but he caressss for Naruto like a father would. You have taken the closest position as a father figure for sweet, warm, Naruto. He'ssss jealoussss that you're Naruto'ssss uncle and he'ssss not," Dokueki said.

"Sasuke did tell you quite a lot about everyone. And you kind of creep me out with how much you seem to fancy my nephew," Kakashi said airily. "Mah. I suppose it's okay. Just don't bite him or anything."

"Wouldn't dream of it," Dokueki hissed innocently. "Now about that Icha-Icha seriessss you were telling me about..."

"Great series. But you still have some hours of interrogation left," Kakashi said, amused. Dokueki hissed angrily.

"Kakashi-san, I thought you were cool like Naruto. I'm tired. Let me go," Dokueki whined.

"No. I need to ask your more questions."

"I told you. Sasuke issss alive."

"And I told you, I think you're not telling me everything."

"Sasuke likessss to bang Naru-"

"Not that!" Kakashi grabbed Dokueki's snout, cutting her off before she continued. "You're quite the pervert."

"Takessss one to know one."

"If you give me more information, I will lend you my Icha-Icha series," Kakashi said in an attempt to bribe Dokueki. Her eyes widened delightedly. Kakashi smiled behind his mask. One of the most effective interrogation techniques, when possible, was to befriend the subject in order to gain their trust. Using the Icha-Icha series as a way to get Dokueki to tell him information had been most useful so far. Kakashi was waiting to see her reaction when she realized the great series he was talking about really wasn't a limited edition, and that she could get it anywhere, not just from him.

Oh how Kakashi enjoyed being sneaky when he could.

"Let'ssss talk," Dokueki hissed excitedly, oblivious that Kakashi was using her perverseness to get information out of her.

--

Sasuke felt his body shift as Naruto fell asleep and his soul "took over" Naruto's body. It was a strange sensation, to see the least, when he was in Naruto's body and had control. Sasuke knew that Naruto's body was going through major issues since it was transforming and housing several entities. He knew that Naruto's body probably needed rest, but Sasuke was restless. He got out of Naruto's bed and began to walk around Naruto's apartment. The transformations that Naruto went through as he slept wouldn't start for a little while, and Sasuke enjoyed the feel of Naruto's body pre-changing into part-Kyuubi part-himself and staying part-Naruto. Naruto's body always seemed to be full of energy, and Sasuke finally understood why Naruto never seemed to want to sit still.

Walking around Naruto's apartment aimlessly, Sasuke began to go through Naruto's drawers and cabinets in search of food, something he had yet to do, but felt was necessary now since he was hungry. Or Naruto was hungry. _They_ were hungry, Sasuke finally decided on. Sometimes it was hard for Sasuke to figure if he should differentiate between Naruto and himself. However it worked out, the body he was in was hungry, and Sasuke wasn't going to wait for Naruto to wake up to eat. Sasuke searched through the cabinets, looking for something edible other than ramen, a task he found extremely hard. It was disconcerting to see the endless rows of ramen. Sure Sasuke knew Naruto liked ramen, but he was slightly appalled at the fact that Naruto had nothing else in his house to eat.

Tapping his fingers, Sasuke thought about what to do. He really didn't want ramen. Yet Sasuke was hungry now, and he sure wasn't going to wait for Naruto to wake up to eat. Shrugging his shoulders, Sasuke decided that as long as it was dark out, and as long as he did it early enough, there really shouldn't be any harm in going out to the village to get some decent food.

Sasuke looked through Naruto's dresser drawers, looking for clothes to change out of pajamas. Smirking to himself, Sasuke found the outfit that Naruto had worn when he had seen Naruto on his sixteenth birthday. Feeling mischievous, Sasuke put on the formfitting, black turtleneck, the black pants, and the long black overcoat with an orange flame pattern on the bottom that looked similar to the fourth Hokage's cloak – Naruto's own father. Sasuke particularly liked the jacket. One thing that Sasuke had always been proud to wear was his clan's fan symbol. Sasuke felt that Naruto ought to dress more like his father had, more like his family probably would like him to.

The idea of Naruto as Hokage and daimyo amused Sasuke greatly. He could see Naruto pulling off being Hokage, but being daimyo – while Sasuke was sure Naruto could do it – would probably bore Naruto. Being both Hokage and daimyo would be plausible since Naruto would have high positions both in the ninja and non-ninja communities.

Looking at Naruto's appearance in the full length mirror on the back of Naruto's bathroom door, Sasuke realized Naruto still didn't look exactly like he had when Sasuke had met him.

"Glasses," Sasuke murmured to himself. He had meant to ask Naruto why he needed glasses, and more importantly, why he didn't wear them. Sasuke searched Naruto's bedside stand, finding the glasses. As he looked down at the glasses, Sasuke frowned. He didn't feel that Naruto needed glasses. In actuality, he felt that Naruto had good eyesight. Even so, Sasuke put the glasses on.

The change in clarity was immediate. Sasuke was taken aback at how clear everything had become with simply putting the glasses on. The difference made Sasuke wonder if perhaps _he_ had needed glasses. As he turned to look at Naruto's new appearance back in the mirror, and the gentle style of glasses that Naruto had chosen, Sasuke mused his body would have looked good in glasses, as long as it wasn't those huge glasses like what Kabuto wore, or like the thick rimmed glasses that Orochimaru's one subordinate, Karin, liked to wear.

Sasuke shook his head. He hadn't thought about Karin or the other people of Sound in some time. She had liked him, and it had bothered Sasuke a lot. There had been one occasion that he had been very close to telling the female shinobi that he was gay, but he had a feeling she was a closet yaoi fan, and thus it wouldn't have made much difference in her fangirlishness.

Shaking his head, Sasuke decided he better head out to get food quickly before Naruto's body began to change.

--

It was amazing to see the amount of once-overs Sasuke received as he walked down the streets of Konoha in the outfit he had chosen for Naruto. Sasuke wondered why Naruto didn't wear this outfit more, wondering why he wore that orange jumpsuit. Not that it was hideous, but it was not very fashionable in Sasuke's opinion. Clearly Naruto wasn't one that thought that he needed to worry about his looks, but Sasuke knew that appearances were more important than merely looking good.

The way one looked, the way one held oneself, was a good determiner of character and of actions. Sasuke wondered if Naruto understood that if he was to become Hokage and daimyo, he would have to be more conscious about what he wore. Smirking to himself, a smirk that if he had been passing by a reflective surface would have looked rather odd on Naruto's features, Sasuke decided he would be a good advisor to Naruto. It was another thing to add to the list of reasons why Sasuke should stay in Naruto's body.

Sasuke passed by a group of girls staring at him and giggling. Their dresses left little to the imagination and they waved at him suggestively. Sasuke walked by them coldly.

"He looks so cool! I heard he was the daimyo's grandson or something like that, and a ninja no less. "

"Why haven't we tried to go after him before?"

"He's cute!"

"I'd love to have his ninja babies!"

Sasuke gritted his teeth, listening to the girl's chatter. _Ninja babies?_ Did they not care that he could hear him? It was unnerving to hear the types of comments that were directed at him, well, more so at Naruto.

Naruto seemed to get a lot more attention dressed like this, and Sasuke quickly realized why Naruto decided to dress down. Sasuke walked on, ignoring the girls as they called out for him to stop and talk to them as he headed to the grocery store in order to get some food.

Little did Sasuke know that going out like he had all of the troubles he would cause for Naruto.

--

"You must be careful of your choices. Weigh your options. The better idea is there! What you were thinking about before really wasn't a good idea."

Naruto looked about him, trying to find where the voice was coming from. It was the voice from his dream the night before...

With that thought, Naruto realized he was dreaming again, and that the voice was the voice he had given to his father's dream self. Once again his father was giving him advice – or a warning.

"It is a warning. Advice is a suggestion. This is a command – if I had the ability to enforce it of course," Yondaime's soothing voice answered dream Naruto's unasked question.

"I still don't get what you're talking about. More details!"

Yondaime scratched his head as though thinking about how to explain what he was talking about better. Naruto would have been satisfied just to get a damned explanation.

"Sasuke's right," Yondaime said finally. Naruto's eye twitched.

"Why is Sasuke right and I am wrong, and about _what_?" Naruto asked, grumbling. Yondaime didn't answer, but just smiled again sadly.

"You know," Yondaime said cryptically. Naruto nearly rolled his eyes.

"Obviously I don't or else I wouldn't have to ask!" Naruto shouted. Yondaime's face darkened at Naruto's words, and Naruto suddenly found his chest feeling tight. His father looked disappointed. It wasn't a good feeling to have his father, dream father or not, looking at him so disappointed.

"I'm not disappointed in you. Just disappointed in the lack of communication," Yondaime said sadly as his figure began to dissolve.

"Wait!" Naruto yelled uselessly, his arm outstretching towards his father as his dream began to fade around him.

Naruto felt like his body jerked forward as he reached out for his father, only to find himself suddenly wide-awake and reaching out and stumbling forward. Quickly catching his balance, Naruto expected to find himself in his apartment bedroom with his usual bout of changes.

Instead, Naruto found himself in Konoha's 24-hour indoor market with a shopping cart filled with food he would never have chosen for himself.

"What the hell?" Naruto asked, wondering if he had been sleepwalking. The few people who were doing their shopping so late looked at him like he was crazy before going about their business.

"Damn. You woke up," Sasuke's voice rang out.

"Sasuke! WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING TAKING MY BODY OUT AT NIGHT?!" Naruto yelled at the top of his lungs. The few people turned their heads to look back at him. A few of them hurried to the cashier to get out as quickly as possible. Naruto laughed slightly and waved, feeling rather sheepish as he realized that only he could hear Sasuke's voice.

"You're so loud," Sasuke said.

"You're so fucking dead when we get home," Naruto muttered under his breath. He was livid. It was not a pleasant experience for him to wake up after dreaming about his father to find out that Sasuke decided he wanted to go out shopping in his body.

"I'm already dead," Sasuke bit back, rolling his eyes.

"The hell you are. Even if you're body is, doesn't mean I'm going to let that stop me from finding you another body to bring you back fully," Naruto said. "It's creepy to know that you used my body to go _shopping_."

"I was hungry," Sasuke hissed.

"I have ramen."

"Only ramen."

"What's wrong with that?"

"You need to eat more types of food."

"Sir," a man from nearby Naruto said. Naruto turned to look at him and read the nametag off of the badge that read ISHIDA in big bold letters. "Please take the conversation with the voices in your head outside of the store. You're scaring the customers."

"There's only one voice, and he's an ass," Naruto grumbled to the man before heading to the cashier. Without thinking, Naruto bought all of the groceries that Sasuke had selected. "Stupid guy. _Voices_. There's only one. And what kind of a name is Ishida anyway? Sounds like a wussy name," Naruto muttered. "And Sasuke, you're an ass. If you take my body out again without my permission, I'll make sure to get you a new body and the first thing I'll do is kick your ass."

"You wish dobe."

"Bastard."

"Usurokatonkachi."

"Why the hell am I dressed in this?" Naruto asked, suddenly looking down at his outfit.

"Your jumpsuit is hideous."

"It is not! You just have no fashion sense."

**Next Chapter: Wife or Life Mate?**

Yes, I know it's been months. I'm sorry! I've had lots going on, BUT the point is, that I updated. You're all happy, right? Right?

I couldn't resist that Ishida comment at the end there. For those of you who don't know, in the series Bleach, the Japanese voice actor who does Sasuke in Naruto, also does the character named Ishida in Bleach.

Leave a way for me to contact you if you want me to let you know when updates occur.

Reviews greatly appreciated. - Jelp


	6. Chapter 6: Wife or Life Mate?

Sorry. I know it's been a while since I updated. Here's a quick re-cap of what's going on:

_Sasuke's soul is trapped in Naruto's body. Naruto wants to find a way to get Sasuke a new body, but Sasuke's not so agreeable about the idea. It doesn't help that people don't believe Naruto, though he is finally starting to win a few people over. However, Naruto's long last family still doesn't know about Naruto's houseguests – Sasuke or Kyuubi – but they are expecting quite a bit of him. Sleeping also hasn't been too easy for Naruto. He keeps dreaming about his father giving him a cryptic warning, but he can't figure out what it means. Naruto's got a lot on his plate, and it doesn't help that Sasuke takes control of his body when he sleeps. Sasuke's too restless. A restless Sasuke is never a good thing, and he even went shopping in order to pass the time, unknowingly complicating Naruto's life a whole lot more than was necessary..._

* * *

**Identity Crisis**

**Chapter 6: Wife or Life Mate?**

Naruto was still angrily muttering about how Sasuke had not asked permission to take his body out grocery shopping of all things, and it was pissing him off that Sasuke was more amused at his reaction and not really that apologetic.

"What the hell are you grinning about anyway?" Naruto demanded, angrily.

"Just picturing you walking about the streets in the middle of the night, talking angrily to yourself, and I just wondered how people are looking at you," Sasuke said, amused. Naruto opened his mouth, caught slightly off-guard and looked around him. There _were_ people staring at him. However, most of them didn't look at him like he had gone crazy (though a few people did keep their distance). In fact, a few people, a group of girls specifically, looked like they were checking him out. He stopped and looked at them curiously. The girls giggled and waved. He turned around to make sure that they were really waving at him before smiling shyly at them and waving back. This just caused the girls to giggle even more. Naruto took one last confused look at them before he continued walking.

"Oo! I definitely want to have his ninja babies!" Naruto almost froze in his tracks when he heard one of the girls say that, registering that they were talking about _him_. He was about to turn around and say something to them before he heard Sasuke snarl, no longer sounding amused.

"Keep walking! Keep walking idiot," Sasuke hissed. Naruto didn't bother to berate Sasuke for his tone because as Naruto inspected the girls closer, he sensed a strange and almost dangerous aura coming from them: kind of like a cat about ready to pounce on its prey. It vaguely reminded Naruto of that time almost two years ago when he had first gotten his long, black overcoat and glasses. The girls had practically attacked him at the gambling place Ero-sanin had told him to wait at while Jiraiya went off for a drink. Come to think of it, he was currently wearing the same outfit he had been "attacked" in back then. Naruto looked down making sure. It was the same outfit.

"Why does everyone look at me differently only in this outfit?" Naruto asked, somewhat angrily. He thought he looked fine all the time. Sasuke was about to make a retort about how hideous the orange he wore looked on him, and how it clashed with his blond hair, but he knew that Naruto truly did love that orange jumpsuit. Even so, Sasuke thought about the question seriously. Perhaps it wasn't just the outfit.

"It's the glasses. They do a wonder to your face. They make you look more mature by relaxing your eyes and giving off that intellectual look. In contrasts with the wildness of your hair," Sasuke said thoughtfully. Glasses made a lot of people look like a geek. Naruto was one of the rare few that glasses truly enhanced his features because of how they made his eyes look.

"Yeah, I'm sure that's it," Naruto said, rolling his eyes disbelieving, but he didn't have any other explanation, and he ignored the stares of people as he returned back to his apartment (though he did take off the glasses for good measure). He dumped the bag of groceries on the floor of his kitchen and immediately changed back into his pajamas and headed to bed.

"Don't wander around in my body anymore," Naruto growled. Sasuke shrugged.

"Sure. Goodnight," Sasuke said. Naruto grumbled something unintelligible, and he sighed, feeling exhausted again. He was asleep again in a matter of minutes.

Sasuke sighed upon feeling himself in charge of Naruto's body once more. Grinning, he got up out of bed and carefully began to put away the groceries Naruto had gotten at the store. He made sure to put them in a locale that he hoped Naruto wouldn't find them and throw them away. Naruto really ought to eat more than just ramen. After finding good hiding spots, he fixed himself a nutritional snack, curving Naruto's hunger. Naruto must have been so angry or too exhausted to notice his growling stomach before heading off to sleep.

Sasuke was glad he could do something for Naruto, even if it was just to curb his hunger. He thought about it for a moment, and decided Naruto's soul and his body probably needed rest in addition to nourishment. Deciding he really should try and rest Naruto's body, he went back to bed and lied down. Sasuke wasn't sure if he would be able to sleep himself, but he would at least meditate so that Naruto could get the rest his body needed.

* * *

"Creepy," Naruto said as he looked in the mirror the following morning, only to have Sasuke's voice come out of his mouth. He looked at his black hair, creamy white skin, and black eyes, which stared back at him in the mirror. It was hard to tell when Sasuke was talking or he was talking since Sasuke's features didn't reappear over his own since he looked exactly like Sasuke.

"You think it's creepy that you awoke looking just like me?" Sasuke asked, rather annoyed. "You've been going through so many different transformations. Isn't it nice to look completely human for once?"

"It's creepy 'cuz I kind of want to molest myself like this," Naruto said as he stretched the waistband of his pajamas to look at his penis to see if it looked like Sasuke's. It did!

"Are you doing what I think you're doing?" Sasuke asked incredulously, watching as Naruto's soul form reached inside his pajama pants.

"If you think I'm looking for a vagina, then no, you're wrong," Naruto said, with Sasuke's voice while grinning widely with Sasuke's features.

"Are you looking at my dick?" Sasuke asked.

"Hey! My body! It's still _mine_, even if it looks like yours," Naruto said, using his arm that happened to look like Sasuke's to slowly caress himself. It was weird for Sasuke to hear his voice coming from Naruto's body but with Naruto's vocabulary. Even so, Sasuke could see Naruto's soul standing right in front of him as he stroked himself. Naruto may have been seeing Sasuke, but Sasuke saw Naruto's soul form just fine.

It felt unfair for Sasuke to watch as Naruto jerked himself off. He wanted to say something about how he wished that he could touch Naruto, but he knew it was a wasted cause. Instead, he watched as Naruto's soul pleasured himself. While Sasuke knew it was stupid to do, knew that it would make no difference, Sasuke couldn't help but want to reach out and touch Naruto's soul. He knew that his hand would go right through Naruto as though he weren't there.

But Sasuke couldn't help himself. He missed Naruto so much.

Sasuke moved forward, watching as Naruto's head leaned back ever so slightly, his hand pumping at his cock. He knew it wouldn't make any difference, but he wanted to touch Naruto so badly, feel Naruto's warm lips. They looked so inviting as they parted in pleasure.

Sasuke leaned forward, knowing he wouldn't be able to touch Naruto, wishing with all his heart just to be able to be near Naruto again. He brushed his lips against the lips of the image of Naruto's soul.

He froze in shock as he _felt_ the warm lips beneath him. Sasuke was even more shocked when he felt warm lips move back against his, and his shock only increased as a hand came up to hold the back of his head to press his lips firmly against Naruto's. Sasuke wondered if he were dreaming now because he could actually feel Naruto's soul responding to his. And it truly felt like Naruto. Hell, it _smelled_ like Naruto. Sasuke couldn't recall ever being able to use his sense of smell inside the soul realm.

Only fleetingly wondering if he were hallucinating, Sasuke wrapped both of his arms around Naruto, definitely feeling the warmth of Naruto against him. Naruto broke off the kiss and blinked at Sasuke clearly confused.

"Sasuke?" Naruto asked, looking about him, a death grip on Sasuke in his shock. "What's going on? Where are we?" Naruto asked, his voice coming out slightly panicked. Sasuke's eyes widened.

"Can you – can you see me?" Sasuke asked in shock.

"See you and feel you," Naruto confirmed, gripping Sasuke tightly. "I was jerking off, and the next thing I know, I felt your soul moving over top of my body like I usually do. It felt like when you move about in the soul realm. Next thing I know I couldn't feel those movements over top of my own. Instead, I felt you against me, and your lips were on mine. I closed my eyes, and now...here I am, wherever here is," Naruto said.

"I can _feel_ you," Sasuke said incredulous. "I can feel _you_," he repeated as he wrapped his arms around Naruto.

"Sasuke, I've missed you," Naruto said as he embraced Sasuke back, feeling almost silly as he said the words. They'd been together twenty-four seven, and yet, it hadn't really been like they were "together." Having Sasuke inside his head was more like being on a walkie-talkie with him than actually being _with_ him.

"Hn," Sasuke murmured as he relished in the feeling of holding Naruto. He understood Naruto's sentiments. He'd missed being able to look face to face with Naruto and touch him. Without wasting further time, Sasuke pressed his lips against Naruto's, relishing in the way he could finally touch Naruto again. Warm lips, warm body, all so familiar and safe.

Naruto snaked his hand into Sasuke's hair, feeling Sasuke. It was strange to have just felt Sasuke's bodily movements over top of his own to feeling Sasuke's body pressed against his. Sasuke responded to him just as he remembered the last time they'd made love. Running his fingers through Sasuke's hair, he couldn't help the tears that sprang to his eyes, tears of utter joy at being able to hold Sasuke again. He pressed his lips on top of Sasuke's, almost afraid if he pressed too hard Sasuke would disappear.

The kiss was gentle and soft. Their mouths moved upon each other's lips, caressing and being caressed slowly. Naruto pressed his lips more firmly into Sasuke's, still gentle, but the pressure made the kiss feel more like a massage of lips than mere caresses. Probing with his tongue, Sasuke encouraged Naruto's lips to part, which he did so willingly. As Naruto open his mouth a little wider, Sasuke pressed his lips a little closer together so that Naruto's mouth engulfed his own as he slid his tongue inside of Naruto, teasing Naruto's tongue with his own. He ran his tongue along the tip of Naruto's, coaxing Naruto's tongue to follow his closer to their lips.

Sasuke pulled his tongue back into his own mouth, waiting for Naruto's tongue to follow. His lips twitched in a smile as Naruto's tongue entered his mouth.

Naruto moaned as he felt Sasuke close his lips softly around his tongue as his lover pressed his mouth even closer to Naruto's. Sasuke sucked wickedly on Naruto's warm appendage, moving and sucking it around in his mouth like a lollipop. Moaning even more, Naruto gripped the back of Sasuke's head, his hips thrusting slightly into Sasuke's body as he imagined Sasuke's mouth sucking and coaxing another part of him.

As Sasuke kissed him, Naruto felt his mind going hazy, and he realized that he was holding his breath as he allowed Sasuke to keep kissing him. Reluctantly, Naruto pulled his tongue from Sasuke's mouth and gave Sasuke a quick kiss on the lips before taking a deep breath of air. Slowly Sasuke untangled his limbs from his beloved's body.

They both smiled and smirked, looking at each other. Naruto took another deep breath, realizing he was still feeling dizzy, and he moved his hand from Sasuke's hair to put it on his chest when he had trouble taking a breath –

– Only to find himself standing in front of his mirror once more, his own reflection staring back at him with no sign of Sasuke or Sasuke's soul anywhere near him.

"Sasuke?" Naruto asked, panicked.

"I can't feel you any more!" Sasuke's voice came from his head, Sasuke's features reappearing over his as they usually did when Naruto looked in the mirror and Sasuke talked.

"What happened?" Naruto asked, shakily. "I'm back in front of the bathroom mirror again, and I look like me! Well, except when you talk because then your features take over mine of course," Naruto said.

"Damnit!" Sasuke cursed, and Naruto could feel Sasuke clenching his fist. "I can't touch you anymore. I tried kissing your lips again but nothing."

Naruto swallowed, not at all sure what to think. He had to turn away from the mirror so he didn't keep seeing Sasuke's face reappearing and disappearing every time that he talked.

"You kissed me and I came into the soul realm er thingy?" Naruto asked.

"Yes, but, I can't touch your soul again. That was the first time," Sasuke said.

"And then I moved away from you -"

"- and as soon as we stopped touching you left me," Sasuke said, his voice bitter.

"S-sorry. I shouldn't have moved," Naruto said, feeling guilty. Naruto felt Sasuke shake his head.

"You didn't know," Sasuke murmured.

"Do you still want to stay in my body now? This makes you want to get another body now, doesn't it?" Naruto wondered defiantly. He hoped that having Sasuke able to feel him again would want to make him more determined to help find a new body.

"Of course not! If anything, it makes me want to stay inside your body even more. If I can touch you for periods of time inside your body, then it makes this situation all the more beneficial," Sasuke said. Naruto's eyes widened.

"Are you serious?!" Naruto asked (more like screeched), disbelieving. Sasuke nodded. Naruto opened and closed his mouth, wanting to argue, but was unable to find the words he wanted to try and convince Sasuke without them arguing.

Either having to live with Sasuke all the time was making Naruto think more before he acted, or Sasuke really was rubbing off on him.

Still, why was Sasuke so hell bent on staying in his body? It didn't make sense! Why share the same body? Naruto sighed, frustrated, something bothering him, as though he ought to see "beneath the beneath" or whatever that saying was. Did Sasuke have a point? Suddenly, Naruto's dream from the night before came back to him. He replayed it in his mind:

_"You must be careful of your choices. Weigh your options. The better idea is there! What you were thinking about before really wasn't a good idea."_

_Once again his father was giving him advice – or a warning._

_"It is a warning. Advice is a suggestion. This is a command – if I had the ability to enforce it of course," Yondaime's soothing voice answered dream Naruto's unasked question._

_"I still don't get what you're talking about. More details!"_

_Yondaime scratched his head as though thinking about how to explain what he was talking about better. Naruto would have been satisfied just to get a damned explanation._

_"Sasuke's right," Yondaime said finally. Naruto's eye twitched._

_"Why is Sasuke right and I am wrong, and about what?" Naruto asked, grumbling. Yondaime didn't answer, but just smiled again sadly._

_"You know," Yondaime said cryptically._

Clearly Naruto didn't know, but what was he going to do about it? Sasuke couldn't be right about staying in Naruto's body. That idea was stupid. His father was probably talking about something else. He would have to figure it out. Naruto would have to think about his dream later. His rumbling stomach told him that food was the top priority at the moment.

* * *

"What do you mean Kakashi-sensei took Dokueki out on a mission?" Naruto asked Iruka incredulous. After neither he nor Sasuke spoke more about the strange incident where Sasuke had been able to touch Naruto's soul, Naruto had decided he couldn't sit still any longer (he hadn't completely lost his usual restlessness) and went to find Kakashi and demand that he accept both his and Dokueki's explanations so they could help find Sasuke a new body.

"I mean," Iruka said, looking pointedly at Naruto, "that Dokueki most have said some pretty convincing things because Kakashi took the information to Tsunade-sama, and she decided the two of them would look into it immediately."

"What exactly is 'it?'"

"Probably the information Dokueki used-" Sasuke began before Iruka interrupted.

"Dokueki said something that seemed of high importance, but I'm not sure what. However, Tsunade does want to speak with you so she can re-evaluate your uh...mental health," Iruka said. Naruto crossed his arms.

"You mean she might believe me now?" Naruto asked, trying night to sound too offended.

"Hopefully," Iruka said.

"Where is the old hag anyway?" Naruto asked.

"Don't call the Hokage that," Iruka said, but his tone wasn't overly harsh as it seemed that he realized Naruto used the insult as a term of affection. "She can't see you now, but she'll send word for you when she's available."

"What do you mean she's not available? She's always available to see me!" Naruto said, huffing.

"Yeah, but you're crazy now, remember? Maybe she doesn't see crazy people," Sasuke said, smirking.

"You-" Naruto began, before he stopped himself from insulting Sasuke in front of Iruka. Even if Iruka did believe him about Sasuke, it still didn't mean he looked any less crazy insulting a person no one else could hear.

"She's got an important delegate from Rock Country here. Do NOT interrupt them," Iruka said warningly. Naruto sighed.

"Fine," Naruto agreed. Did Iruka really think he didn't know better than to go barging in on the Hokage during something like that? Heheheh...okay, so he'd done that once with Sandaime. Once! It had all worked out in the end anyway. "I'm going to go see my family now," Naruto said. A brief spurt of sadness, quickly covered up by happiness for Naruto flittered through Iruka's eyes.

"That sounds nice," Iruka said. Naruto scratched the back of his head, realizing that Iruka had taken to him because neither of them had had any family growing up. Now Naruto did have a family.

"H-hey. Do you want to come and meet them? They're really cool. My grandmother, Kyohaku, is really sweet. My great-grandfather, Sen-san, is a riot. He's really excitable all the time too. Great-grandmother Izanami is also really sweet, and pretty smart. And of course, my great Uncle Shijimi is the daimyo. You've probably at least met his wife, Lady Shijimi." Iruka, smiled.

"I have met Lady Shijimi. She comes here for her cat," Iruka said, wincing at the memories. Naruto winced too, remembering his missions in retrieving said cat.

"Yeah, she's alright. I don't talk to her or Uncle Shijimi much. I'm closer to my grandmother and great-grandparents," Naruto explained.

"I think I'll pass on meeting them…for today," Iruka added, looking at Naruto's slightly crestfallen face. "I'm at work you know!"

"True," Naruto said scratching his chin thoughtfully. "Another time!" Naruto said jovially before waving his hand and bounding off towards his family's home.

* * *

"Tadaima!" Naruto greeted, letting everyone know he was home. He'd never had anyone to say that to before, but his great-grandparents' and his grandmother's home felt like his home too. When he'd lived with the monks at one of Konoha's temples and spoken Chinese, he'd never known of this greeting, otherwise he might have tried it then, even if the monks hadn't responded back to him. Something about announcing his presence in a home made Naruto feel more welcomed. It felt good to have a family.

"Cute," Sasuke said, smirking. He thought about making a snide comment about how childish Naruto was acting, but Sasuke could still remember the way it felt to have his mother greet him upon coming home, waiting for her voice to say –

"Okaerinasai!" Naruto's grandmother greeted jovially. Kyohaku smiled warmly at Naruto, coming over to greet him at the door. She engulfed him in a welcoming hug while planting a quick kiss on the top of his head. Naruto pulled away from her and blushed slightly at the motherly affection. Even so, he enjoyed the attention and affection she gave him, and he grinned up at her.

Sasuke did his best not to sulk too much as he watched the content expression on the form of Naruto's soul, his face completely and blissfully happy. He would be lying to himself if he said he wasn't jealous. He was very jealous that Naruto had a family while his family was dead; there was no point denying that jealousy. What made him even more jealous, jealous enough that it made him want to sulk, was that someone else was making Naruto happy. He knew he was being irrational, especially since it was Naruto's own grandmother making him so happy, but Sasuke had long since learnt that emotions were anything but rational. Sasuke's brooding was interrupted as he listened to what Kyohaku said to her grandson.

"You had some guests stop by looking for you earlier this morning," Kyohaku said, and she winked at Naruto. Naruto blinked back at her, surprised.

"Er, who?" Naruto asked, confused.

"Is that Naruto?" Izanami asked. Naruto turned to watch as his great-grandmother entered the room, looking excited to see him, even more excited than usual. "Naruto!" Izanami said, smiling widely as she gave her great-grandson a quick hug. "So, any love interests?"

Naruto blinked at his great-grandmother, trying to process her words. Any love interests? What in the world was she talking about? Why would she bring that up so suddenly?

"Uh-" Naruto couldn't say more than that, his voice catching in his throat.

"I didn't tell him yet. I was just going to," Kyohaku said excitedly. Naruto just looked back and forth between his grandmother and great-grandmother, wondering what they were talking about.

"Huh?" Naruto managed to get out. Both of the women in the room snickered.

"A little less than an hour ago, a group of about twenty girls came to our front door. _Twenty_!" Kyohaku giggled as though she were a giggling thirteen-year-old girl instead of a fifty-six year old woman.

"They were all looking for you," Izanami said, sounding just as excited.

"Uh...why?" Naruto asked, completely and utterly confused. Both women raised their eyebrows in unison.

"They were all asking if they could go on a date with you of course!"

"They were WHAT?" Naruto screeched. "Wait – wait – wait. What are you talking about? Twenty girls came over this morning looking for me to ask _me_ out on a date? You're kidding, right?" Naruto said, looking completely and utterly baffled. Both women shook their heads.

"I told you I didn't think any of them really knew him," Kyohaku said to her mother thoughtfully. Izanami merely nodded. Kyohaku then turned to Naruto and then explained what she knew. "Apparently last night, a handful of the twenty girls had seen you out doing some late night shopping -"

"Those girls were serious about the ninja babies? That's just-" Sasuke's voice was (as usual) unknowingly cut off. Kyohaku of course could not hear his ranting after all and continued her explanation.

"- Apparently you waved at them, and they thought you were so endearing that they had to come meet you. They seemed to know you were a ninja and related to the daimyo, so they showed up here. It was rather hard to figure out exactly how the small group of girls that you had seen last night had grown from just a few people from the time they saw you to twenty people by the time this morning rolled around. A lot of things were hard to figure out through all of the yelling, but it was quite clear that a handful of the girls were accusing the rest of the girls that they had not been there when you had waved, and therefore shouldn't have come to ask you for a date. It was all rather confusing since they were yelling and squealing so much."

"Er, what?" Naruto was definitely confused. He wasn't really following his grandmother's explanation.

"Our dear Naruto already has a fan base!" Izanami said delightedly, and Naruto turned to look at her, wondering if it should surprise him or not that an eighty-year-old woman knew about fan girls. And what did she mean by _already_ having a fan base?

"What do you mean by already?" Naruto asked, blinking at her, confused. Izanami just smiled widely.

"It's only natural for the daimyo heir to develop a fan base. I was the President for Sen-san's fan base at the tender age of fifteen. Ah – the good old days. We used to stalk him everywhere when his over protective mother wasn't looking," Izanami said, sighing fondly at the memories.

Naruto couldn't help but stare at his great-grandmother in disbelief. It was hard imagining her as a young girl acting so fangirlishly after his great-grandfather. It seemed so..._mean_...some how. Kind of scary too.

"How did you two get together?" Naruto asked. Izanami seemed to snap out of her daze of memories and turned back to Naruto.

"That's a story for a later time. No, what we should discuss are the prospective ladies who submitted their applications for a date with you," Izanami said, and she gripped Naruto's arm with surprising strength for someone her age and practically dragged Naruto into a room that looked like it was used for important meetings. The meeting room had a long table with papers spread out on it, and it was clear that his great-grandmother had been hoping she'd be able to discuss things with him.

"What does she mean they submitted applications?" Sasuke asked, even more confused than Naruto since he couldn't see what was going on and could only hear the conversations taking place.

"What do you mean they submitted applications?" Naruto asked out loud for Sasuke. Izanami nodded and then waved a hand toward the papers spread across the table.

"Of course! I had prepared for the possibility that girls would take an interest in you about a week or so ago. You're a handsome young man, nearing your seventeenth birthday, a ninja, and related to the daimyo. It is only natural that women will begin to flock to you. As former head of the Sen-san Fan Club, I knew that it's much easier to go through a screening process to narrow down the candidates to make sure that these interested girls should fill out a simple questionnaire, leave a picture for you to assess their looks, and rule out the girls who would not make a good wife. For those who you would like to talk to, you can call them back as they have left their contact information. For those who are unsatisfactory, a letter can be sent to their place of residence in order to let them know of your disinterest, along with a threat of a restraining order in case they believe they ought to make a foolish attempt to try and contact you after rejections."

Izanami spoke so fast that she finally decided to pause to let Naruto take in all the information. Naruto, for his part, just stared open mouthed at her. She made the entire thing sound like a business transaction.

"I think your really sweet great-grandmother got replaced with a rabid fan girl. She already mentioned these girls as being a possibility for your wife," Sasuke said, sounding slightly mortified.

"What are you talking about? Wife? What wife?" Naruto screeched. Izanami didn't seem at all taken back from Naruto's reaction and calmly re-explained that she had made the girls fill out some details about themselves in order for him to narrow down who he may want to take as his wife.

"The more information you have the better, and you can always call the candidates back for one-on-one dates in order to see if there is a spark between the two of you," Izanami said happily. Naruto could merely stare at her.

"Mom, why don't you go and make up some more of those forms and perhaps see if you can narrow down the question choices. Perhaps throw in an essay question in order to help Naruto get a broader picture about the girls and their overall character?" Kyohaku suggested.

"Yes, that sounds like a great idea! I'll let you two go over the forms. I also want to add some questions about Naruto. I think the girls ought to answer something about him if they want to date him. If they don't know anything about him, then why are they going after him? Probably just for his good looks and status. A few of the girls thought he was the grandson of the current daimyo instead of his great nephew. They didn't realize that he was Sen-san's great-grandson either. On second thought, perhaps I shall make up a biography and character description about Naruto and send it to all the locals. That way we can have a better selection of girls. Yes, I'll do that," Izanami said, and she sauntered out of the room to start her plans in motion. Naruto gaped after her.

Kyohaku turned toward Naruto grinning.

"I thought you might enjoy this, but I can tell you're quite baffled. Once I realized you didn't want to deal with any of this, I thought we'd never get rid of her," she said kindly, looking through the door where her mother just exited. Kyohaku chuckled to herself as she began to stack up all the papers across the table and put them in a pile. "We can tell her you were not interested in any of these girls, and that you have very high standards," Kyohaku said.

"Um, I'm confused," Naruto said. Kyohaku laughed.

"You must understand where my Mother is coming from. Back during your great-grandmother's time, dating was a bit different, especially dating for someone in an upper class situation such as the daimyo. Her mother-in-law, my grandmother, made each girl go through a screening process in order to even be allowed to look your great-grandfather's way, let alone to date him. My Mother tried the same thing with my suitors, but as you know, I found my own love," Kyohaku said sadly. Naruto nodded, aware that she'd had a secret relationship with Hatake Sakumo, his grandfather, and Kakashi's father.

"I don't want all this," Naruto said, looking forlornly at the stack of papers on the table. Kyohaku nodded and sat down in one of the chairs around the table and encouraged Naruto to sit as well.

"I had a feeling you probably wouldn't, but it _was_ a good way of getting the girls to go away. We weren't sure if you were going to stop by today, and I had a feeling those girls would have camped out around the house until you showed up. Plus, it has gotten your great-grandmother extremely energized. She's always liked these kinds of things. I'll let her down gently that you'd rather find someone that you have a spark with rather then this old fashioned screening process. It's all a bit much, isn't it?" Kyohaku asked. Naruto nodded.

"Girls can be scary," Sasuke muttered, and he shuddered, remembering the girl Karin from Sound and her persistence. Naruto frowned, noting Sasuke's shudder, and wondered what had caused that reaction.

"And," Kyohaku started, a little more gently, "perhaps you don't want to go through the process of looking through profiles of women. Perhaps men would be more fitting for you?"

"What?" Naruto asked, a bit surprised at what she was implying.

"I know you haven't talked about it much, but the death of your friend, Sasuke, seemed to hit you pretty hard. And well, it just seemed that you acted even more emotionally upset over his death than someone would, even for their best friend, as though he meant more to you than just a friend," Kyohaku said slowly, gauging Naruto's reactions.

"Damn. She's good," Sasuke said, impressed. Naruto blushed. Kyohaku smiled softly at her grandson, his blush telling her everything.

"I suspected as much. The way you talk when you told past experiences you had with him, the look you get in your eyes..." Kyohaku trailed off. "I'm even more sorry now for your loss. He clearly meant a lot to you."

"I don't feel like he's really gone. He's still with me," Naruto said, allowing a grin to spread across his face. He pressed a hand over his heart.

"Naruto, if-"

"Naruto! There you are!"

Both Naruto and Kyohaku turned around to see Sen-san practically skip into the room. He came over and clapped Naruto on the back.

"I ran into my beloved Izanami who was acting like a young school girl. She explained to me the situation about all the fan girls. She's in her element with them, and it's always fun to watch her work. I had also wondered what all that noise was at the front door this morning. I'm glad I finally got an explanation," Sen-san said. "However, it made me realize something that Naruto and I have yet to talk about. Naruto, I think we need to have a man-to-man chat."

"Uh-" Naruto turned to look at his grandmother. She smiled at him gently.

"We'll finish _our_ talk later," she said quietly, getting up from her chair. Sen-san looked at her and frowned.

"I didn't mean to interrupt," Sen-san said apologetically.

"Don't worry about it. I think it's best for Naruto and you to get your conversation out of the way first," Kyohaku said with an air of wisdom in her words. As she walked past her father, she stopped in the doorway and turned slightly to Naruto, giving him an amused though somehow sorrowful expression as she left. Naruto turned toward Sen-san, wondering what the man-to-man talk was going to be about.

"No. He's not seriously going to-" Sasuke began, as realization clicked in his brain.

"I'm sure at your age, you have a lot of questions about women. And I know that while you have had ninja leaders to help you with certain aspects of your future, you've never had a father figure to explain a few things to you," Sen-san began. Naruto opened his mouth slightly, as he too finally had a feeling where this conversation was going. He decided to try and change the subject.

"No – no. I mean, yes, I have had people talk to me, and, well, you don't need to-" Naruto tried to get out, but Sen-san didn't seemed deterred.

"Naruto, it's like this," Sen-san said, looking very serious. "You see, when a man and a woman love each other very much..."

* * *

Naruto left his family's house about an hour or so later, feeling slightly traumatized.

"That was..." Sasuke trailed off, slightly traumatized himself.

"Yeah," Naruto agreed. "Do you think he would have stopped talking to me about sex if I'd told him I wasn't a virgin?" Naruto asked. Sasuke shook his head.

"He seemed determined to make sure you were well informed," Sasuke said.

"Yeah, but did he have to go into detail? I thought he was just gonna, you know, explain the basics. I didn't need blow by blow details about different positions," Naruto said, stopping to shudder at the idea of his great-grandparents in those positions.

"Let's...let's think about something else," Sasuke suggested, shuddering as well. "I don't think I ever told you exactly how I killed off Orochimaru. There's lots of blood and fighting in it," Sasuke said.

"Yes, good. Blood, fighting. That sounds great!" Naruto said, as Sasuke began to explain to Naruto his master plan, their minds finally off of the terrifying images that Sen-san had provided them with.

When Sasuke had finished his story, they both lapsed into silence. Both Sasuke's and Naruto's minds wandered to different things.

Sasuke's mind had wandered to that morning when he'd been able to touch Naruto for the first time in what felt like years, wondering how he could get to feel Naruto again.

Naruto was still thinking about what his grandmother had been talking to him about before Sen-san had interrupted. After seeing his mortified look after his conversation with his great-grandfather, Kyohaku had said that they should finish their talk later. Even so, from what they had talked about briefly it seemed she didn't mind if he had fallen for Sasuke, which was a good thing, but he got a vibe from both of his great-grandparents that they would expect him to settle down and marry a woman. And what would happen if he couldn't get a body for Sasuke? Would they be stuck waking up every morning with different appearances? He relayed his questions to Sasuke.

"Well, if you do have to marry," Sasuke said, sounding bitter, "you get to be the one to explain to the girl that you share your body with me, and that you only get it while you're 'awake,' and that when you're asleep I take over. The girl will have to be okay with that."

"You're being stupid. I'm not marrying any girl, and I'm sure we'll figure out a way to get your body back," Naruto said.

"You were the one wondering about the situation," Sasuke pointed out.

"Yeah...true..." Naruto grumbled, feeling awkward about the whole situation. He really didn't like all the things his family seemed to expect from him. If they weren't around, there'd be no one he'd have to please. He shook his head angrily at himself, yelling at his stupidity for thinking that it was easier without them. He had a family, and he wouldn't give them up for the world.

Naruto looked in front of him, surprised to see that he had walked to the Hokage office without realizing it, his feet on autopilot. He hadn't been paying attention to where he'd been going. "Hey! Tsunade-baa-chan is probably done her meeting by now. Let's go see her! She might have a way to get you out of my body," Naruto said as he excitedly ran up the steps.

Sasuke just brooded. He'd told Naruto he didn't want to leave Naruto's body, especially now that there was a chance his great-grandparents would try to persuade Naruto to take a wife. Sasuke would be able to stay with Naruto all the time if they shared a body, and no one need to know that he was really there. He'd be able to have Naruto, and Naruto would be able to save face by not really having an affair if he had a wife. It wouldn't really be cheating then since Sasuke was a part of Naruto. Sasuke lived inside of Naruto, and they'd be like life mates.

No, that sounded weird. Mates had the connotation that made it sound like they could reproduce. Then again, if he were in Naruto's body, he'd technically be reproducing with Naruto's genes. So perhaps calling their relationship life mates wasn't a bad title after all.

Sasuke thought fast. If Naruto went to the Hokage now, and succeeded in persuading her that Naruto and he shared the same body, she might have a solution in extracting him from Naruto. Unless, of course, Sasuke made sure that Tsunade didn't believe Naruto. Sasuke would just need to make Naruto look a little crazy, that was all. Then Tsunade wouldn't bother trying to take Sasuke away from Naruto. There was no denying that Naruto would be pissed with him, but he would apologize later. It was for the best after all. Sasuke was sure of it.

**Next Chapter: Keeping Secrets or Telling Them?**

* * *

Sorry, I couldn't resist the Tadaima and Okaerinasai bit. It's basically like saying "I'm home" and "welcome home." I can just see Naruto yelling "Tadaima" because it's almost like saying "Ta da!"

I know it's been a while, but I do have a good reason for not updating! I've been waiting for the manga to reveal certain information, but it hasn't. I decided to just screw the manga and do my own thing. Now that I've made up my mind about that, reviews really do motivate me. Hint, hint, wink, wink, nudge, nudge.

Just as an FYI, I have posted a oneshot called "Lacking" if you're interested. Also, my fic "Mine" is almost completed, and "The Agreement" is updated every Tuesday and Saturday.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Let me know what you thought! - Jelp


	7. Chapter 7: Keeping or Telling Secrets?

I know, I know. I'm so sorry again about the late update! Once I finally did sit down to write this it came really easily. But just in case you don't remember what's going on, here is a recap:

_Recap: Sasuke's soul is trapped in Naruto's body. Naruto wants to find a way to get Sasuke a new body, but Sasuke's not so agreeable about the idea. It doesn't help that people don't believe Naruto, though he is finally starting to win a few people over. However, Naruto's long last family still doesn't know about Naruto's houseguests – Sasuke or Kyuubi – but they are expecting quite a bit of him. Sleeping also hasn't been too easy for Naruto. He keeps dreaming about his father giving him a cryptic warning, but he can't figure out what it means. Naruto's got a lot on his plate, and it doesn't help that Sasuke takes control of his body when he sleeps. Sasuke's too restless. A restless Sasuke is never a good thing, and he even went shopping in order to pass the time, unknowingly complicating Naruto's life a whole lot more than was necessary. Now females have been seeking out Naruto at his grandmother and great-grandparents' home in pursuit of a romantic relationship with him. On the bright side, a few more people are starting to believe that Sasuke is actually inside of his body, and he has a meeting with Tsunade to try and convince her a second time that he's _not_ crazy..._

**Identity Crisis**

**Chapter 7: Keeping Secrets or Telling Them?**

"Hurry up brat, I haven't got all day," Tsunade said as Naruto stood in the middle of the doorway waiting to come in.

"I'm here," Naruto grumbled, but quickened his pace anyway. He had hesitated for a moment before he had entered the Hokage office because Sasuke had gone still. There was a peculiar expression on his face, but as Naruto could only feel and not see Sasuke's facial expression, he was having a hard time discerning what the heck had gotten Sasuke to shift moods so suddenly. He had stopped in order to try and figure out what face Sasuke had made, only for Tsunade to rush him in.

Tsunade sat in (more like flopped into) her seat behind the Hokage's desk. She propped her elbows up and rested her chin on her fingers with freshly red painted nails.

Naruto, as usual per shinobi, stood in front of her desk at attention, wanting to speak, but feeling somehow uneasy with the fact that Sasuke was being so still and silent.

A small part of him wondered if Sasuke was still slightly traumatized with his great-grandfather's overly detailed explanation about sex, but he had a feeling that wasn't it. Sasuke should have been feeling more eager about the situation, more willing to help convince Tsunade that Sasuke was residing in Naruto's body so they could figure out a way to get Sasuke his body back.

"First, and foremost," Tsunade began, her golden eyes gleaming at Naruto, "What the hell are these?" she demanded icily, nudging at a stack of papers on her desk. Naruto had to do a double take, taken aback by what she was talking about. His gut reaction was to say, "how the hell should I know? It's on your desk!" but he actually took the time to examine what Tsunade had pointed at.

"Umm," Naruto hesitated, not sure what they were until he saw the heading "Formal Application Form For One Date With Uzumaki Naruto" splashed across the top. Attached to most of them were pictures of girls that Naruto was sure that he had never seen before in his life. Naruto groaned. "That's my great-grandmother's doing," Naruto whined.

"Well why the hell are they being sent here?" Tsunade demanded angrily.

Sasuke's laughter made it hard for Naruto to think of an answer, and he almost growled because he was sure that Sasuke would have a better idea than he would if the bastard would just speak up.

"I don't know," Naruto mumbled.

"They want to have your ninja babies," Sasuke finally said, smirking.

"Bastard," Naruto hissed. Then again, maybe he should stay quiet.

"Excuse me?" Tsunade thundered. Naruto put up his hands defensively.

"No – no! Not you. Uh, remember, Sasuke's in my head, er, body and he talks to me and I called him a bastard because, he's, well, being one," Naruto said as Tsunade looked murderous.

"Smooth," Sasuke said, his smirk growing.

"Right...Sasuke," Tsunade said, her murderous look fading until she looked at Naruto concerned.

"You've talked to Dokueki and Kakashi-sensei, and they believe Sasuke's residing in my body. And Iruka-sensei believes me too," Naruto said in a rush.

Tsunade looked at Naruto before looking down at her desk with the stacks of forms on it.

"Sasuke...talks to you?" Tsunade asked. Naruto felt the tension in his shoulders leave, not having realized he had been so tense before.

"Yes."

"Then let me talk to him."

"Fine. Just talk, he hears you. He can't see you, but he can hear you," Naruto said, feeling even more and more relaxed.

"Uchiha," Tsunade said, her tone changing completely, "Why did you abandon Konoha over three years ago?" Naruto tensed, not liking the first question out of Tsunade's mouth, but waited for Sasuke's answer anyway.

And waited.

Sasuke didn't speak.

"Sasuke, say something," Naruto muttered angrily.

Still, Sasuke didn't say anything. Naruto started to feel panicked. Not only was Sasuke not speaking, but Naruto couldn't feel Sasuke moving at all.

"He's not talking?" Tsunade asked. It was clear to Naruto that her tone indicated that she thought Sasuke wasn't speaking because Sasuke wasn't really there.

"Just...just ask another question. I mean, that was kinda harsh of you Baa-chan to start off with something that won't make him want to talk."

"So are you saying that Sasuke is hiding behind you and not answering my question, or he's not really _there_ to answer my questions?"

"He's...he's not talking to me right now. And he's not moving. Usually I can feel him move, in a way. It sort of feels like I can feel his movements over top of my own. He's being still and quiet. There's not even a little fidget," Naruto admitted finally.

Part of Naruto was really starting to panic now. What if something had happened to Sasuke? What if he had truly disappeared? Why wasn't he responding?

But the other part of Naruto was beginning to get furious. Sasuke hadn't wanted to get a new body. He had wanted to share Naruto's. Part of Naruto realized that Sasuke was being quiet on purpose so that it would make it seem like he wasn't really there.

"I think the bastard is doing this on purpose," Naruto growled out. Tsunade looked at Naruto, a little surprised. Naruto smirked. Tsunade's eyes widened even more. "He doesn't want out of my body. He wants to share it for some stupid, messed up reason. He's trying to make it look like I'm insane. And even if Sasuke's being a prick about it, I'm sure Kakashi and Dokueki will figure something out to convince you – or Sasuke – otherwise. But believe me, I'm telling the truth!"

Naruto turned, feeling furious at Sasuke when Tsunade called him back. Sasuke was keeping his emotions in check, and Naruto could feel no sign of movement or any detection that Sasuke was there.

"What makes you think we're done here?" Tsunade asked as she rested her chin upon her folded hands held propped up by her elbows.

"It's obvious to me that Sasuke's not going to speak to you or even me right now. So what's the point?" Naruto asked bitterly, feeling betrayed.

"You truly believe that Sasuke resides in your body," Tsunade stated, more than asked. Naruto answered her anyway.

"Yes."

"Uchiha Sasuke," Tsunade said, raising her voice slightly. "If Naruto is telling the truth, then you are being a fool. You are a parasite, using his body when it belongs to him. And, if such proof happens to exist that states that you are indeed somehow co-existing as one entity inside of Naruto's body, does that mean that we should punish Naruto for your crimes?"

And finally, Naruto felt Sasuke stiffen, and Naruto stiffened slightly too as his movement took him off guard.

"Ha! Sasuke finally reacted to that one," Naruto said, smirking again.

"Indeed," Tsunade murmured, frowning, looking intently at Naruto. "I could see his movement," Tsunade murmured. Naruto's eyes widened.

"What?" Sasuke finally blurted out. Naruto clenches his fists angrily.

"The asshole has finally spoken, and asked, 'what?'" Naruto repeated, feeling livid.

"When you stiffened, it wasn't your normal posture. At first, it almost looked like something that you might have tried to mirror, but the muscles in your shoulders are too different to pull off that move. You and Sasuke have different shoulder structures, and therefore different types of bodily reactions. The one that your body just gave me when you stiffened did not match the normal movement of your shoulders. It shouldn't be possible with the difference in the width of your shoulders, but then again, Sasuke residing in your body shouldn't be possible either."

"Does this mean you believe me?" Naruto asked, his eyes wide and hopeful. Tsunade sighed and rubbed her forehead.

"I suppose it does – however!" Tsunade all but yelled in order to prevent Naruto from interrupting her. "This does not make things easy. In fact, it complicates things. There are so many questions I have that I can't even think of them in a coherent manner at the moment."

"Well, for starters – at night, Sasuke sort of takes over my body and he becomes the one in control. It's kind of annoying because I don't feel like I've been getting any sleep. Then I wake up in the morning looking like a mesh of myself, Sasuke, and even Kyuubi."

"What do you mean he takes over your body?" Tsunade demanded.

"When I sleep, he sees out my eyes, I guess you could say, and controls my body's movements. He actually was the one that's responsible for those papers," Naruto said pouting.

"What?" Sasuke and Tsunade said together.

"He went out last night, _shopping_ for crying out loud! And all these girls saw me. He doesn't like my orange outfit, and he decided to dress me in something else, which apparently these girls liked a lot. I don't understand why they don't like orange."

"It doesn't look bad on you. It's just that the other outfit looks better," Sasuke said, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Whatever," Naruto grumbled. Tsunade raised her eyebrow.

"He spoke, didn't he?" Tsunade asked. Naruto nodded. "I caught the words "looks better" at the end," Tsunade said thoughtfully. Naruto stilled.

"You did?" Naruto asked. "You could hear him?" Tsunade shook her head.

"I could see the movement of your lips. During the shinobi war, we needed to learn how to read lips, even just the slightest of lip movement. The particular way your lips twitched and contracted showed me," Tsunade murmured.

"Well why didn't you notice all this before when I tried to tell you?!" Naruto demanded. Tsunade looked thoughtful instead of angry at Naruto's outburst.

"This isn't good, not good at all," Tsunade murmured, sound frustrated.

"What's not good?" Sasuke asked.

"Your situation is not good," Tsunade answered.

There was an awkward silence with Tsunade's words ringing in the room, proof that she too could tell that Sasuke was really inhabiting Naruto's body.

"This is, kind of weird," Naruto finally muttered. "It's one thing for you to believe me, it's another for you to be able to talk back to him when only I can hear him," Naruto said.

"Is it just when you sleep that he takes control?" Tsunade asked.

"Yes."

"Sasuke, have there been any other times when you have taken control and Naruto has been unaware?" Tsunade demanded.

"No," Sasuke mouthed clearly.

"You better not be lying, for your sake," Tsunade muttered. "Today-"

A knock at the door interrupted Tsunade.

"Come in!" Tsunade bellowed.

Shizune entered, looking rather confused and extremely flustered. She spotted Naruto and seemed to almost wince upon seeing him.

"Hokage-sama, there's a group of girls here...looking for Naruto. Some have more of those applicant forms. Others now have these." Shizune handed over a brightly colored flyer that had a picture of Naruto on the front. His name was in bold, capital letters over the top of his picture.

"That-that's me from this morning!" Naruto said, looking aghast.

There was an intent and serious expression on his face, and Naruto recognized that he had looked so blank faced because his great-grandfather had started talking to him about...shudder..._sex_.

"Your great-grandmother must have taken it when you weren't looking," Sasuke said.

"I didn't even see her enter the room!"

"The angle looks like it came from above. They probably had a surveillance camera set up. Your great-grandfather was the daimyo after all. There are probably all sorts of hidden safety/surveillance devices in the house. That means that one) you need to hone your skills better to detect such things, and two) ask your great-grandmother not to use video stills of you without your permission," Tsunade said, though there was almost a hint of laughter in her voice while she read through the flyer.

Naruto snatched it from her and looked over the information. It had his age, his date of birth, his height, his weight, and even his blood type listed on the flyer. Below it was a short biography about him, enhanced and written by his great-grandmother. He read it out loud for Sasuke's benefit.

"Uzumaki Naruto, my beloved great-grandson (seen in the above picture) has recently been reunited with our delighted family. Assumed to be a person of normal birth with no family, my dear Naruto grew up an orphan, first taken care of by monks until his sixth birthday. He grew up, mostly on his own, and became a ninja after attending the Konoha Ninja Academy. From there, he went on a number of missions that helped to better relations between Konoha and other Nations. The bridge in the Land of Waves was so grateful to him that they even named a bridge after him!"

"She made that up," Naruto grumbled.

"No, they really did. I saw it," Sasuke said back.

"Are you serious? How'd she find that out?" Naruto asked.

"Naruto, who are you talking to?" Shizune wondered.

"I'll explain later Shizune," Tsunade said as she leaned over Naruto and read over his shoulder as he read out loud.

"During the Chuunin Exams that resulted in the sad demise of the beloved Sandaime Hokage, Naruto helped tie relations between Suna and Konoha by defeating and then befriending the current Kazekage, Gaara of the Sand. Relations between the Leaf and the Sand have never been better!"

"She makes it sound like that was all my doing," Naruto said, blushing.

"You helped a great deal," Sasuke murmured. Naruto continued.

_"Our beloved Naruto even went on a mission with the Legendary Jiraiya to help seek out the beautiful and equally legendary Godaime Hokage to Konoha. With her medical prowess and unmatchable strength, she has helped Fire Country to grow these past few years. After this mission, Naruto later went on a three-year training-regime with his new teacher, Jiraiya-sama where he learned many new powerful and exciting techniques. Upon his return (after once again aiding the Sand by saving the life of their beloved Kazekage), new information led to the wonderful discovery of Naruto's true heritage._

_"My beloved daughter, Kyohaku, had a love affair that she hid from the rest of the world at a young age. Terrified, she gave her little son up for adoption. He was adopted into the Namikaze family, becoming none other than the beloved protector of Konoha, Namikaze Minato, Yondaime Hokage. Later investigation showed that he and his wife, one Uzumaki Kushina, married in secret, and even had a little child who they hid in order to protect from Yondaime's enemies."_

"Do we even know that for sure?" Naruto asked, feeling odd as he read about himself.

_"Yes, our beloved Naruto is that child! His great Ninja skills along with his past Ninja heritage enhance his qualities as great protector and leader for Fire Country. While he aims to become the next Hokage of Konoha, his birthright dictates that he will become the next Daimyo of our land. However, our dear, sweet Naruto has recently suffered another tragedy. His best friend Uchiha Sasuke recently died during a heroic mission. Naruto has been quietly suffering the weight of his friend's loss, and we are supporting him as best we can through his grieving._

_"Even so, I feel that as future Daimyo descended of the Sen Clan, possible Hokage Candidate, the beloved Fourth Hokage's Son, as well as just an overall awe inspiring man all on his own, needs more love and attention than we can give him alone. As his great-grandmother, I want to see my beloved great-grandson happy."_

That ended his bio, but another section began. It started, _"With this being said, we are looking for caring and intelligent, young women who would like to meet and go out on a date with our sweet, dear Naruto."_

Naruto stopped reading as the rest of the information was a way to contact her as a means to get a date with him. He resisted the urge to crumple the paper and handed it back to Tsunade. If it had been from anyone other than his great-grandmother, Naruto would be furious. As it was, how could you be mad at an eighty-year-old woman who thought she was helping and had made him sound so, well, cool? Okay, so Naruto was still mad, but not as much as he would have been had it been anyone else.

"That's..." Sasuke said, unable to find the right words for what he wanted to say about the flyer. While the woman was not his great-grandmother, she was still Naruto's great-grandmother so he held his tongue.

"She's a sassy lady, isn't she?" Tsunade asked, grinning widely.

"Aren't we supposed to be discussing my problem here?" Naruto asked, not wanting to deal with this right now. He wanted Sasuke back, and the idea of people that he didn't know wanting to go out on a date with him, while almost flattering, was also unnerving.

"She's very resourceful. Some of these events, while not secret per se, were not widely publicized. She has sources," Tsunade said, grinning widely.

"Why are you finding glee from my misery?" Naruto groaned, frustrated. Tsunade's gleeful smile faded.

"Naruto, you love attention. Why aren't you happier about this?" Tsunade asked, genuinely confused.

"I can't deal with this right now! All I want is to get Sasuke a body so I can have my own body back so that I can go back to having a real best friend."

"Naruto..." Tsunade said, frowning deeply now. Naruto registered the look of sympathy that passed over Shizune's face.

"I just...it's just..." Naruto clenched and unclenched his fist. "This stupid flyer makes me sound like some sort of..." Naruto trailed off, not sure what to say.

"It makes you sound like the great person you are," Sasuke murmured. "Even if you are an idiot."

"Bastard, I could _almost_ forgive you your earlier assholeness for that," Naruto said, and he couldn't help but smile.

Tsunade placed a comforting hand on Naruto's shoulder.

"Brat, why don't you go and talk to your family about this. Come back here before you go to bed tonight. I want to see what's going on with you while you sleep. I can observe you at my apartment since I'm sure that the hospital won't be safe for you right now."

Two questions came to Naruto's mind after Tsunade made that comment. He asked the first that had come to his mind.

"You have an apartment?" Naruto asked. Tsunade's eye twitched.

"Where did you think I slept brat?" Tsunade growled.

"I dunno," Naruto said, scratching the back of his head. "I sorta thought you slept here or something."

"Do you see a bed?" Tsunade asked. Naruto actually looked around the office.

"Well, no, but I dunno. I guess it was kind of like that idea when I was younger with the teachers at the Academy. I sorta thought they lived there, like their cabinet opened up into a bedroom or something."

"Dobe," Sasuke clipped. Naruto wanted to but resisted the urge to stick out his tongue, and wished harder that Sasuke had his own body so people could see that he was reacting to Sasuke's taunting.

"Why won't I be safe at the hospital?" Naruto asked the second question on his mind.

"The women will hound you there," Tsunade said knowingly.

"Oh." Naruto scratched his head sheepishly.

"I could have told you that," Sasuke said knowingly.

"I ought to go and talk to my family about everything. See if I can get this cleared up," Naruto said. Tsunade nodded.

"Go out the window," Tsunade advised. Naruto did, waving a goodbye.

"Hokage-sama, what do I tell the girls who are here?" Shizune asked. Tsunade looked thoughtful.

"Poor Naruto really seemed upset," Tsunade said, a bit angrily. She cracked her knuckles and headed to the door. "I'll talk to them, and see how badly they really want to have a date with Naruto."

* * *

"You're a fucking bastard!" Naruto finally yelled to Sasuke when he was on his way to his family's home. Naruto barely registered Sasuke mumbling something about Naruto mentioning forgiving him for his earlier 'assholeness.' "Why didn't you say anything? You were quiet, making it look like I was a dumbass! You made it look like I was crazy! What if she had locked me up or something for it?" Naruto demanded, his frustration letting loose as everything came crashing around him. "You were so still I thought something had happened to you," Naruto said. He was so angry, that tears were threatening to form in his eyes. It had scared the hell out of him. Part of him had feared that Sasuke might have vanished.

"What's the point?" Sasuke snapped bitterly. "It's not like we could be together any other way!"

Naruto stopped in his tracks.

"What?" Naruto asked incredulously.

"Do you really think anyone will like the idea of the two of us in a relationship? Honestly? If you become Hokage-"

"When," Naruto corrected. Sasuke decided it wasn't worth the effort to argue the point.

"-then they will probably feel better if you had a wife and family. Same thing with your own family! Even if you could somehow over look the fact that your great-grandparents clearly expect you to marry someone and reproduce as any daimyo would, a normal family doesn't always look too kindly on male-male relationships."

"Kyohaku didn't care. She understood. She figured out that I liked you," Naruto said remembering how his grandmother had just that very morning that she had always been able to hear the love in Naruto's voice whenever he had spoken about Sasuke.

Sasuke seemed thoughtful for a moment.

"It just seems like the most logical choice. I've weighed the pros and cons, and in all likelihood, it will be beneficial for you to marry a woman in the long run. Perhaps you should go through with what your great-grandmother has planned and select someone to start courting."

"Are you _serious_?" Naruto all but screeched out.

"Yes. If you marry someone, there is nothing that anyone can do to stop up being together if I am in your body. No one else truly has to know."

"Don't you think waking up with me looking like you with blond hair and three random fox tails might sort of give away that something is wrong?" Naruto deadpanned.

"Naturally you wouldn't be waking up next to anyone," Sasuke all but growled out. "That is what this screening process would be for. Many political marriages do not have love in them. You find someone who is compatible and then you procreate only to create a larger family."

Naruto shivered.

"Just because you can be a cold bastard doesn't mean that I can. I couldn't do that to someone. I want to marry someone who loves me. I want you," Naruto said. Sasuke gave a soft, amused sound.

"Sometimes, with the way we bicker so often yet care about each other so deeply makes me feel like we are an old married couple."

Naruto didn't know what to say to Sasuke's reply. He hated Sasuke's train of thought, and shuddered at the thought that Sasuke was okay with the idea of him having some other person in his love life just to "procreate" as Sasuke put. Naruto didn't want that. He wanted Sasuke.

On the other hand, Naruto couldn't help but enjoy that Sasuke wanted to be with him so badly that he would want to stay in his body to be with him.

"You're just a coward," Naruto said playfully, his anger ebbing away.

"Excuse me?" Sasuke growled.

"Awww, little Suke-chan is _scared_."

"_What the hell did you just call me?_"

"It's okay Suke-chan. Naruto will find a way to make it _allllllll_ better. Don't you worry!"

"Listen, _you little shit_, it's my job to be the practical one here! There's no way to get my own body back, but I promise you, if I did, I would pound into your ass so hard that you would be spurting out apologies and begging me for forgiveness for what you just called me," Sasuke growled. Naruto shivered.

"Hmm, another good reason to get you a body of your own."

"You're relentless," Sasuke hissed. Naruto let out a loud laugh.

"I have to be to deal with you."

"You have to be what to deal with me?" Kyohaku asked confused. Naruto stopped in his tracks, having completely lost scope of his surroundings. He hadn't even realized when he had begun walking again and had gotten to his family's home. He heartily hoped that his grandmother hadn't heard any more than "I have to be to deal with you."

"Uh, sorry. Just thinking out loud to myself. I wasn't talking to, or, uh, about you," Naruto said, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head. He took another glance around and realized that he actually wasn't even yet to his family's place. It was at least another ten-minute walk. Kyohaku seemed to realize that he was confused to see her there.

"I came to head you off. Did you see what your great-grandmother put out about you?" Kyohaku asked. Naruto groaned. "I'll take that as a yes," Kyohaku said, putting her hand up to gingerly touch her forehead as though to ward off a headache. "I don't know what she was thinking. Perhaps turning eighty has made her a bit senile," Kyohaku said, sighing.

"Head me off?" Naruto asked, having a feeling he knew what that meant. Sasuke's expression indicated that he understood what it meant too.

"There are quite a few women waiting at our house for you to appear," Kyohaku said, and her tone took on a more possessive note. "They're mostly leeches. This is why I hate things like this. You have women who are here for all the wrong reasons. They do not know you. They want to know you, but a lot of times it is for all the wrong reasons. Thankfully your great-grandmother, while not understanding how much distress she's probably put you through with what she's done, still does understand that there are girls that needed to be whittled out of the selection process. She's excitedly doing that right now, and let me say, I do not envy what your great-grandmother will put them through."

Naruto felt sorry for those unsuspecting girls. Sasuke didn't.

"Actually a few of them do seem nice. I was up there, and one of your fellow shinobi, Hyuuga Hinata, had said that she had seen you coming using her blood-limit line. She told me in case I wanted to warn you since you probably weren't expecting everyone. It was very kind of her."

"Yeah, she's very sweet!" Naruto said happily. Sasuke frowned deeply. While Naruto might be clueless, Sasuke still remembered very well that Hinata liked Naruto. Naruto also didn't seem to have made the connection that she was probably there with the rest of the women trying to get a date from him too.

"So, I decided that the two of us could head off together away from all this mess. Even if you are not necessarily interested in becoming daimyo, if you want to become Hokage, you should at least learn the basics of what it means to be a daimyo for good Hokage-Daimyo relations," Kyohaku said fondly.

"Oh," Naruto said, trying not to sound as crest-fallen as he felt. Politics was not part of the Hokage position he looked forward to. Kyohaku laughed a little.

"And part of that is walking around Konoha without being detected for who you are in order to understand the needs of the people. We'll make a game out of it," Kyohaku said, winking.

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

"As daimyo, and I am sure as Hokage and as a ninja, you need to be able to go places amongst very familiar people and not be recognized as who you are. Today, since there will no doubt be a lot of people talking about you with all of those flyers going around, maybe we should see how the people of Konoha react to this information about you. Listening to the comments of the people is something that we do in order to find out how the people feel about the current going-ons in the Fire Country. What better way to connect to the people than to hear their complaints, uncensored and from their hearts, from the mouths of the people themselves?" Kyohaku said.

"O-oh," Naruto said, not quite understanding, and not quite liking that idea. What if someone happened to be talking about him and mentioned that he housed the Kyuubi? He hadn't told his family that yet. Honestly, he didn't think that they would care too much, but he supposed that perhaps that he ought to tell them instead of having someone else do that. Then again, did they already know? They were all alive during the time that the Kyuubi had attacked after all.

"It sounds like a good idea to me," Sasuke said thoughtfully. "It shows that your family cares about what the people of Konoha think which indicates good leadership."

"Okay. Sounds good to me," Naruto said. "And I can take you to Ichiraku ramen! I love that place," Naruto said excited. Kyohaku beamed at Naruto.

"You've mentioned that place several times before," Kyohaku said excitedly. "We should make sure to disguise ourselves now. Usually I have some wigs that I wear, but I know you're a ninja, and that you can do something called henge. Sakumo used to do it when he snuck here to see me," Kyohaku said, her voice sad though her eyes were bright with a shimmer of happiness at a fond memory.

It took Naruto a moment to register who Sakumo was. Then he remembered that she meant Hatake Sakumo, Kakashi's father, and Naruto's grandfather.

"Uh, yeah. Yeah I can," Naruto said.

"We should go as a mother and son pair. What do you think?" Kyohaku said, and she stroked her fingers through Naruto's hair fondly as she gave him a quick peck on his forehead. Her eyes shined happily at him, and Naruto had to look away. While he cared for his grandmother, he still didn't know her all that well. To see how happily she had accepted him as her grandson made Naruto feel overwhelmed. She loved him unconditionally because she was his grandmother and something inside of Naruto's chest constricted in warmth and tenderness.

He couldn't resist giving her a big hug before releasing her.

"I like it," Naruto said, grinning widely at her, though his grin slipped when he felt the slight twinge of jealousy that Sasuke seemed to radiate. Naruto turned his head to the side, and said as quietly as he could.

"Sasuke?"

"I'm fine," Sasuke said a bit sharply, before his voice evened out. "I _am_ glad that you found some of your family," Sasuke said, and he did sound like he meant it.

"Hey!" Naruto said excitedly, turning back around to face his grandmother. "Since we're pretending to be mother and son, I'll make us look a lot younger! And I can act like I'm five-"

"-that shouldn't be hard-" Sasuke interjected.

"-and I'll call you Mom and you can call me Suke-chan!" Naruto said, grinning wickedly before shouting out "henge!" and changing their appearances.

While Naruto knew that Sasuke couldn't see what he had done, Kyohaku now looked in her late twenties with long black hair and dark blue eyes. Naruto had made himself look similar to Sasuke had when he was young (though with what Naruto thought was a cooler looking hair that didn't spike up in the back) and blue eyes that matched his grandmother's henge.

"That sounds great! Suke-chan it is!" Kyohaku said, laughing happily as she reached down and picked up the smaller form of Naruto and swung him up onto her shoulders. Naruto laughed gleefully at the action as well as the scowl on Sasuke's face.

**Next Chapter: To Stay or To Run?**

* * *

Again, sorry that it took so long to get this chapter out. I've since finished "Mine," "The Agreement," and posted a oneshot called "Senses." I have been writing two other stories that each have two chapters that I may post now that I have finally updated _this_ story. Hope you liked the chapter! Please tell me what you thought. - Jelp


	8. Chapter 8: To Stay or To Run?

**_Recap:_**_ Sasuke's soul is trapped in Naruto's body. Naruto wants to find a way to get Sasuke a new body, but Sasuke's not so agreeable about the idea. His body is lost, so why be trapped in a weaker body? However, Naruto's long last family still doesn't know about Naruto's houseguests – Sasuke or Kyuubi – but they are expecting quite a bit from him._

_Sleeping also hasn't been too easy for Naruto. He keeps dreaming about his father giving him a cryptic warning, but he can't figure out what it means. Naruto's got a lot on his plate, and it doesn't help that Sasuke takes control of his body when he sleeps. Sasuke's too restless. A restless Sasuke is never a good thing._

_In addition to complications with Sasuke, his family (especially his great-grandmother) has made his life more complicated. His great-grandmother sent out flyers with information about Naruto, stating that he was interested in finding a love interest. Now females have been hounding Naruto in hopes of a romantic relationship with him. He doesn't have time to deal with them as he's trying to get his body sorted out! (Besides, he's got Sasuke – he's taken.) While Tsunade has finally realized that he's not crazy, and that Sasuke's soul is residing in his body, she needs to do some tests to see why he keeps waking up with a different appearance each morning._

_While waiting for night to fall to start the testing, Naruto sought out his grandmother in hopes of spending time with her. They set off to spend time together in Konoha, disguised in henges as mother and son so no one would hound Naruto about his supposedly single status..._

**Identity Crisis**

**Chapter 8: To Stay or to Run?**

While Sasuke knew that Naruto and his grandmother were pretending to be mother and son and therefore needed "code" names to go by, having Naruto to go by "Suke-chan" made Sasuke's eye twitch.

For some reason, the nickname, "Suke-chan," bothered Sasuke a great deal. Perhaps because he knew that Naruto was purposefully goading him that made him actually rise to the bait. Maybe it was because Sasuke's personality truly was taking on more and more of Naruto's traits who Sasuke knew dealt with insults with indignation and much muttered denial. There was another, other reason, that Sasuke thought might have triggered such a wanton response from him: his avenger side needed coaxing. Sasuke smirked in sadistic satisfaction as he planned how to exact revenge on Naruto for the cutesy nickname.

Unfortunately for Naruto, his giddiness at being happily bounced about and carried on his grandmother's shoulders made him only pay partial, actually, very little, attention to the smirk and the evil aura that Sasuke emanated. Naruto felt too happy reveling in the fact that he had a family; reveling in how his grandmother was acting like all those moms he had seen happily picking up and swinging their children around in the air. Naruto wiped away happily at the few tears of joy that leaked at the corner of his eyes.

Kyohaku, while happy at having Naruto with her, worried that her mother might have gone overboard with the flyers and her desire to see Naruto with someone so soon. Naruto didn't want all the attention (or at least he didn't seem to want it at the moment), and she hoped that Naruto wasn't too mad at his great-grandmother. Kyohaku knew that her mom meant well and that she had good intentions, but it unsettled her at how much her parents seemed to be trying to take over subtle aspects of Naruto's life. They loved Naruto dearly, and they thought very highly of him. That was why they expected and wished for him to become daimyo. And while Kyohaku thought that Naruto would indeed make a very good daimyo, she knew he wanted to become Hokage more than anything else. It was, after all, what her son, Naruto's father, had done. In some ways, to Kyohaku, that seemed like more of a family tradition than for Naruto to become daimyo.

There was a strange temptation for Kyohaku to take Naruto, looking so young and unaffected, and to run away with him where no one would try and make him do anything that he didn't want to do. Of course, he wasn't really as young as he appeared to be at the moment, and she knew part of her was trying to make up for giving up Minato by stealing Naruto away for herself. She knew it wasn't right (even though she really wanted to). For now, she would enjoy what time she got to spend with her grandson. She would just take him and run with him away from her parents.

So the three (though it really only looked like two) of them went happily back down the long winding paths from the Daimyo's home to Konoha's Ichiraku ramen shop, all three lost in their own thoughts. Sasuke schemed sadistically, Naruto joyfully grinned about his good fortune, and Kyohaku was caught between happiness at having found a connection to her lost son as well as worrying over her newfound relation.

* * *

"Miso ramen please mister!" Naruto said happily, recalling what he used to say when he ordered ramen when he was younger. He sat, grinning happily and feeling quite at home at Ichiraku Ramen. His shorter than usual legs dangled from the seat, and he happily began to swing them back and forth. He wasn't at all deterred or upset by once again being short. In fact, he had noted how close his face was to the table which meant that his face would be close to his ramen once it arrived. It would mean that his ramen would go from the bowl to his mouth that much faster.

Sasuke was meanwhile figuring out what would be the easiest way to get Naruto to spill all of his ramen, thus exacting his revenge for the name "Suke-chan."

"And what would you like?" Teuchi, Ichiraku's owner, asked kindly to Kyohaku. She looked thoughtful before answering.

"I'll have what he's having." Naruto grinned widely up at her as she smiled back at him. Naruto looked around him happily as his stomach growled loudly. Kyohaku gave him a wink at his stomach's insistence for food. Naruto didn't look unabashed. It was dinnertime after all, so it was understandable that his stomach would growl. He hadn't eaten in what felt like ages. He had skipped lunch (not feeling very hungry around lunch time as his stomach was still unsettled after hearing his great-grandfather talking about sex). He'd gone from the Hokage Tower to the Sen home back to the Hokage Tower, most of the way back to the Sen family home and now back into Konoha. He was ready for food! He was extra hungry.

Kyohaku affectionately ruffled Naruto's henged black hair as she leaned down and gave a quick kiss to his forehead. Naruto rumpled up his nose at the display but was secretly pleased at the attention.

"Chicken ramen," a familiar voice requested. Naruto whipped his head to his right to see Sai sitting down on the stool next to him, and Yamato-taichou sitting down on the other side of Sai. Yamato ordered, and then he looked toward Naruto. He grinned widely at Naruto, and Naruto wondered if Yamato knew who he was. As far as Naruto knew, only sharingan users could clearly see through a henge, but Naruto wasn't sure if perhaps his body actions had given him away.

"They've probably recognized your chakra," Sasuke said as he recognized the voice as well, his thoughts of revenge vanishing. That was Sai who had spoken, the fake him. Naruto hadn't seen him since Sasuke's "funeral," and Sasuke had been grateful about it. He didn't like the idea of anyone else that looked like him spending time near Naruto.

Kyohaku looked at Yamato and then looked away. Naruto had almost forgotten that Yamato had been with him and Kakashi the day that he had found out about being related to the Sen family. Clearly his grandmother hadn't forgotten as she recognized Yamato.

Their little staring contest was interrupted when Teuchi placed Kyohaku and Naruto's ramen orders in front of them before quickly turning to Sai and Yamato.

"So how is Naruto doing? I saw that flyer about him! Is he really related to the daimyo? And Yondaime Hokage? Why didn't he say anything?!" Teuchi asked Yamato and Sai in a rush.

Naruto couldn't help but look at his teammates expectantly.

"It's only been recently that Naruto himself has known, as indicated in the flyer," Yamato said thoughtfully.

"Ah, did it? I was too excited that I guess I didn't read it that carefully. Bad example I am! Ah...I remember when Naruto was about six or seven and he started coming here for the first time. Poor kid didn't even know how to read," Teuchi said reminiscing.

Naruto inhaled more ramen into his mouth than he had intended, and he had to fight his gag reflex to stop from spitting it out.

"You didn't know how to read at that age?" Sasuke asked slightly incredulous. (He'd never admit that he was also partially sated that Naruto had choked on his ramen. Served him right for eating too much.)

"He couldn't read?" Yamato asked, also clearly surprised. Kyohaku was paying close attention, and Naruto was grateful that the steam from his ramen could be used as an excuse for his suddenly rosy cheeks.

"Nope. The kid didn't have anyone at home to teach him, so I had to do it myself. Well, actually, that's not quite how it went. You see, Naruto knew a lot of characters, but they were all Chinese characters."

"Isn't that what we write with besides Katakana and Hiragana?" Yamato asked skeptically. Teuchi laughed.

"Well, yes! But I mean he knew them in _Chinese_. He understood their meaning in Chinese which is different than our language! The kanji, while they have practically the same meaning, are pronounced differently and grouped differently to form words."

"Even a few of the kanji are different," Sai said as he took out his paintbrush and sketchbook, and he quickly painted two sets of characters. His hand flew carefully over the page with graceful strokes.

"The first one," Sai explained, "is the Chinese version of how to write "Chinese" in Chinese. The second is how we would write Chinese. See, there are similarities and differences. The first character in each is the same," Sai pointed toward the character that meant "middle," a box with a line going through its center that started each group of characters. He then tapped on the one with only two characters. "This is the Chinese version. It literally means Middle Language where as our version," Sai pointed to the one with three characters, "literally means Middle Kingdom's Speech."

"Fascinating! How do you know all this?" Teuchi asked Sai.

"In doing sumi-e art, I've found many of the older works are done by monks who use Chinese writing to enhance their artwork with a poem on the side of their painting. In learning the poems, I learned some Chinese-"

"-Probably learned it from one of his many fucking books-" Sasuke sneered.

"-in a book I read," Sai finished. Naruto couldn't help but stifle a laugh while taking a gulpful of ramen, and Teuchi came over and gave him a thump on the back to help his spluttering and coughing which only resulted in making his coughing and choking worse.

After Kyohaku had finally managed to get Teuchi away from pounding on her grandson's back, and after she and Naruto had left a very profusely bowing and apologetic Teuchi, they waited to the side of Ichiraku ramen.

"I'm sure your friends knew it was you. We should wait for them," Kyohaku said brightly, pulling in Naruto's smaller frame against her own, hugging him from behind, taking advantage of their altered appearances. It made Naruto feel like he had a Mom. He felt a twinge of jealousy that wasn't his own, and he realized that Sasuke felt left out. Of course, Sasuke wasn't one to be ignored for too long if he wanted attention.

"I can see it now. When you die it will be due to choking on ramen," Sasuke said sarcastically. Naruto frowned, wishing he could retort back but unable to do so as Yamato and Sai found him and his grandmother waiting for them.

"Naruto, it's good to see you. We've been worried since..." Yamato trailed off, leaving 'Sasuke's death' unsaid.

"Tsunade said you've gone crazy, hearing Sasuke's voice in your head and that's why you aren't allowed to go on missions with us," Sai said bluntly. Yamato shook his head, an exasperated look of frustration on his face.

"Sai, the next time you go to a bookstore, pick something up that teaches you how to be tactful," Yamato suggested, shaking his head.

"Hearing Sasuke's voice in your head?" Kyohaku said, looking down at her grandson worriedly, her expression slightly off due to her henged appearance. It made it hard for Naruto to read her expression to see if she were more concerned or more incredulous.

"Thanks Sai," Naruto hissed out of the side of his mouth. "I'm fine, honest! Tsunade-baa-chan was just worried is all. I'm not hearing anyone's dead voice. Don't worry. I promise I'm okay," Naruto said smiling widely.

"Wow, you managed to say something that didn't make you sound crazy," Sasuke said, and Naruto gritted his teeth, wondering why Sasuke was being so bitter and petty.

"I'm glad to hear you're doing okay. We've seen Kakashi-senpai, and he hasn't seemed to be doing much better either," Yamato explained.

"Nah, he's fine. Well, he wasn't, but we've talked and he's okay now. He's out on a special mission," Naruto explained.

"Who is this, and why the disguise?" Sai asked, looking at Naruto and Kyohaku curiously.

"Oh!" Naruto said, realizing that Sai and his grandmother had never officially met. "Sai, this is my grandmother, Kyohaku. And this is Sai," Naruto said, introducing the two.

"You look like Sasuke-kun," Sai said thoughtfully as he looked back and forth between the two of them.

"I didn't give him permission to call me Sasuke-_kun_. He should call me Sasuke-san or Sasuke-_sama_ if he-"

"What's the matter with you?" Naruto fake-coughed quietly so no one else but Sasuke would hear him.

"I don't like him. He rubs me the wrong way," Sasuke said. Naruto suddenly wished that he and Sasuke were alone so that they could talk. It wasn't exactly easy for him to talk to Sasuke without everyone thinking that he was insane. He had a feeling that telling everyone that he really was hearing Sasuke's voice – just not his dead voice – would not go over very well.

"Naruto and I wanted to see what people were saying in regards to the flyers. My mother went a little overboard, and we were hoping to find out what people really thought."

"I thought we were also trying to figure out what people really thought about Konoha in general," Naruto said. Kyohaku waved a hand dismissively.

"Yes, that too, but I am really curious as to what people think about you."

"They want to date him," Sai said. "There are a lot of girls talking about you. They seem scary. If I were you, I'd avoid them."

"No shit, idiot," Sasuke hissed. Naruto clenched his fist, hoping Sasuke was getting the message to stop bad mouthing Sai.

"Hm, maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all. We don't want you to accidentally get caught by scary fangirls," Kyohaku said thoughtfully.

Naruto wasn't sure what to do. He had been excited to spend some time with his grandmother, but seeing Sai had made Sasuke upset for some reason. Part of Naruto felt guilty for wanting to leave not only Sai's presence but his grandmother's as well. He wanted to be able to talk to Sasuke freely.

A sudden thought hit Naruto.

"Why don't I show you where I went to school and where I did some of my training?" Naruto asked. Kyohaku's face lit up.

"That sounds nice."

"We were just going to do some tactical training at training field nine," Sai said happily. Naruto could feel Sasuke's scowl cross his face.

"Umm, well-"

"I'm going to steal Naruto to myself for the day," Kyohaku said as she wrapped her arm around Naruto's shoulder. She smiled down at Naruto, and Naruto smiled back up at her gratefully.

"Let's go then!" Naruto said as he waved at Sai and Yamato, grabbed his grandmother's hand and began to lead her to the places of his childhood, running away from them in giggles.

Sasuke knew he was brooding the entire time that Naruto showed his grandmother the places of his childhood memories, but he found that he couldn't stop it. He only felt slightly guilty that he was probably making Naruto uncomfortable, but there was something that just wasn't sitting well with Sasuke.

Naruto kept trying to get Sasuke to talk to him, but Sasuke was only giving one-word answers. Showing his grandmother around the training fields had been an unusually brilliant idea for Naruto. He could run around the training field, going away from his grandmother, and quietly talk to Sasuke without getting caught.

The only problem was that Sasuke refused to give him in depth answers to questions such as "Why the hell are you such an asshole?" Naruto finally gave up trying to talk to such a "broody bastard."

Sasuke's own memories kept jolting as Naruto explained the different training fields to his grandmother. Seeing the three poles sticking in the middle of the one training ground reminded Sasuke of how he had offered up his bento to Naruto during their first pathetic attempt to become Team Seven.

It seemed like so long ago, before so much had happened.

When they visited the Academy, Sasuke was still thinking about their first time as Team Seven, and he realized that that day at the Academy they had become Team Seven had been the same day that he and Naruto had first – even if accidentally – kissed.

Why hadn't he ever thought about that before? The Academy classroom was the first place that they had kissed. While the building held many memories for him as being a student there, in seemed to shine in a different light now that he had thought about it in terms of the first place he and Naruto had kissed.

The training grounds also seemed to hold new meaning to him when he linked them to Naruto. He had assumed that there would be a lot of things that would depress him upon returning to Konoha, thinking of his murdered family and of Itachi. Instead, he kept thinking of Naruto.

It frightened him.

While he did want to be with Naruto, a part of Sasuke feared that he would lose Naruto too. The purpose behind his life had shifted so dramatically. Being with Naruto was now the focus of his life, and he didn't want to give that up. Being stuck inside Naruto forced the two of them together, and it gave him a legitimate reason to need Naruto, and to have his life revolve around him.

Realizing that his life would still revolve around Naruto if he got a new body scared him.

"You're such a fucking brooding bastard," Naruto said angrily.

It took Sasuke a moment to realize that Naruto's voice no longer sounded like that of the henged child he had been pretending to be.

"What? Where's your grandmother?" Sasuke asked, distracted.

"She just left. What have you been brooding over?" Naruto demanded angrily.

"Nothing," Sasuke lied. He knew he ought to talk to Naruto about his fear. After all, he really had no one else to talk to. Instead, he shied away from that particular talk.

"I don't even care," Naruto pouted angrily. "You've been acting weird today. Why were you so mean to Sai?" Naruto demanded.

"I told you. Something about him just rubs me the wrong way," Sasuke said. Naruto rolled his eyes.

"You're being stupid. I hope Tsunade-baa-chan can fix you. I'm going to head over to her apartment now."

"Now who's being stupid?"

"How am I being stupid?"

"How can you go to Tsunade's apartment if you don't know where it is?"

"Oh..."

"Dobe."

"Shut-up!"

* * *

Naruto ground his teeth together. This day had dragged on for what seemed like months, and he was grateful that it was finally coming to an end.

It had been very strange. The sex talk with his great-grandfather, the stupid flyers his great-grandmother had sent out, the talk with Tsunade where she had been able to lip read what Sasuke had said, the weird meeting with Sasuke and Sai at Ichiraku...

Naruto sighed and rubbed at his eyes as he headed for Tsunade's office. He figured that Tsunade was probably still there. Even if she wasn't, someone there ought to be able to tell him where she lived, right?

He and Sasuke hadn't talked much since his grandmother had left. Sasuke was being stubborn still. Naruto was too but Sasuke had started it!

"You forgot to give me your address!" Naruto accused immediately as he banged up the door to her office.

"You forgot to get it before you left," she answered without missing a beat. Sasuke gave an amused snort.

"Whose side are you on?" Naruto asked as he walked into the Hokage office, feeling free to talk to Sasuke as though Tsunade could see him and hear him.

"Do not barge into my office. Walk in, and be respectful brat. What if someone important had been in here speaking with me?"

Naruto shrugged sheepishly. Tsunade sighed and made an exasperated sound at Naruto's indifference.

"How's your little parasite doing?" Tsunade asked. Sasuke bristled at being called both little and a parasite.

"Don't call him that!" Naruto ordered furiously, pointing a finger at Tsunade. She was unabashed and continued as though nothing had happened.

"I'm glad you're here. It gives me an excuse to leave early. Now let's go," Tsunade said as she stood up and brusquely walked toward Naruto. She gave him a harder than necessary thump on the back to get him to move on before continuing to walk by him, her heels clicking on the floor. Naruto turned on his heel and followed her.

Naruto followed behind Tsunade, wondering, not for the first time, how she could walk so quickly in high heels. They looked like they would hurt.

"As you've probably realized, in order for this to work, I will need to be awake to observe the subtle changes in your body. In order to do this, it is usually beneficial to have a group of doctors around to do that. This is especially important so that way all of us are alert. We will take turns sleeping. Two awake while one takes a shift of sleeping. Shizune and Sakura have agreed to help with the analysis."

Naruto stopped in his tracks.

"Sakura-chan?"

"Yes, Sakura. I called her after you left the office, and I explained the situation to her. I hadn't realized that you had not confided your condition to her."

"I was going to, but I didn't have time! Dokueki was hiding in her closet, and she had to go to the hospital in order to do her shift. I didn't get a chance to talk to her about it."

"You mean all this time that you've had, and you've only spoken to her once?" Tsunade asked in disbelief.

"She's been keeping Sakura busy. She ought to-" Sasuke began, but this time, it was Naruto who cut him off, even though he could hear him.

"_You_ didn't believe me! I thought she'd think I was crazy too."

"Fair enough," Tsunade conceded. She stopped in front of a door, and Naruto realized that they had just gone a floor down from her office. Go figure her apartment would still be in the Hokage Tower.

"Is this where you live?" Naruto asked.

"Not quite," Tsunade said as she opened the door and ushered for Naruto to go through. Naruto looked inside the doorway. The hall looked like the rest of the Hokage Tower, but the lighting from inside the room looked a lot brighter than the other rooms. Naruto peered inside, unable to focus on anything right away due to how bright the room was.

"Why is this room so-" Naruto never got a chance to finish his question before Tsunade shoved him in his back, pushing him through the doorway, propelling him forward so that he would land face first on the ground –

– if there were ground.

Naruto found himself caught up in free fall as the brightness suddenly vanished and his eyes were plunged into pitch black. He fell down what felt like three levels before impact.

"Oof!" Naruto grunted as he finally landed on the ground.

"What happened? Naruto, are you okay?" Sasuke asked his voice panicked.

All he saw was Naruto's soul form suddenly lurch forward, a look of shock and slight fear on his face. It had made Sasuke's non-existent heart beat race with the fear of watching Naruto look so helpless and Sasuke being unable to do anything to help or protect him.

"Ow. Tsunade pushed me," Naruto groaned out angrily. From somewhere above him, he could hear Tsunade cackling. A few seconds later he heard a soft click of shoes land on the floor next to him. Naruto jumped up and pointed his finger accusingly at Tsunade – or at least where he thought Tsunade was. It was so dark.

"Why you old hag! You could have hurt me doing that! Next time warn a guy!" Naruto yelled angrily.

"That was interesting," Tsunade said thoughtfully, though her voice still held amusement. Naruto blinked.

"Interesting? _Interesting?_ What the hell do you mean interesting?!"

Lights suddenly flared to life from all around him, and Naruto threw his arm in front of his eyes to shield them from the dramatic shift. Tsunade stood before him holding a device in her hand.

"When I patted your back in my office I used my chakra to force a miniscule heart monitor chip into your body. After I pushed you, I checked the initial readings. It's picking up two different sets of sounds. One is your heartbeat, and the other one, I'm not quite sure, but I have a feeling I have an idea of what it is. When you fell, your heartbeat sped up, as did the other sound."

"Does that mean you're picking up Sasuke's heartbeat? He's got a heartbeat?"

"Or something akin to it. I don't know if I could call it a heartbeat per se, but I noticed earlier, when I was reading Sasuke's lips, I noticed a very subtle change in your chest movements, as though you were breathing multiple times. When you fell, I could feel Sasuke's chakra spike," Tsunade said, getting excited.

"So, you believe me, right? That's what all this means, right?" Naruto said excitedly.

"I believe Sasuke is alive, more so than you do. You see, a soul does not breathe. A soul does not have a heartbeat."

"No! Sasuke's soul is -"

"An imprint of Sasuke's soul is no doubt living within you. It's messing things up greatly. A normal soul transfer would have made it so that Sasuke's soul would have completely taken over your body. The fact of the matter is I don't believe you have all of Sasuke's soul residing within your body."

"What?" Naruto breathed out.

"What does she mean?" Sasuke asked, his voice hitching in excitement.

"I think that the other part of Sasuke's soul, may in fact, be residing in another body. To be more specific, I believe that his soul is still residing in his original body."

**Next Chapter: Real or Fake?**

* * *

X_X Yes, I know. I haven't updated in ages. I apologize. I've gotten distracted with my other fics which I've been having a lot of fun writing. Since posting this last chapter, I have posted two one shots. Erotica, a NaruSasu fic. Caution! Slippery When Wet, a SasuNaru fic. Two new multi-chaptered fics, Highs and Lows, a SasuNaru fic, and Afraid of the Dark, as NaruSasuNaru fic. I got distracted with them. Sorry!

A couple people have asked if I plan on finishing this fic, and the answer is a resounding YES. Even if I get distracted with other fics, I will finish this. ~ Jelp


	9. Chapter 9: Real or Fake?

No, this story is not discontinued. It's just not updated as often as you (or I) would like. And now enjoy the ninth chapter of Identity Crisis! (Finally.)

* * *

**_Recap:_**_ Sasuke's soul is trapped in Naruto's body. Naruto wants to find a way to get Sasuke a new body, but Sasuke's not too happy about the idea. His body is lost, so why be trapped in a weaker body? He'd rather share Naruto's body than be trapped in a lesser being._

_Meanwhile, Naruto's long last family still doesn't know about Naruto's houseguests – Sasuke or Kyuubi – and they are expecting quite a bit from him._

_Sleeping also hasn't been too easy for Naruto. He keeps dreaming about his father who only gives him cryptic warnings, but he can't figure out what to make of the dreams. Naruto's got a lot on his plate, and it doesn't help that Sasuke takes control of his body when he sleeps. Sasuke's too restless. A restless Sasuke is never a good thing._

_In addition to complications with Sasuke, his family (especially his great-grandmother) has made his life more complicated. His great-grandmother sent out flyers with information about Naruto, stating that he was interested in finding a love interest. Now females have been hounding Naruto in hopes of a romantic relationship with him. He doesn't have time to deal with them as he's trying to get his body sorted out! (Besides, he's got Sasuke – he's taken.) While Tsunade has finally realized that he's not crazy, and that Sasuke's soul is residing in his body, she needs to do some tests to see why he keeps waking up with a different appearance each morning. And Tsunade has some interesting news for the two ninja lovers…_

* * *

**Identity Crisis**

**Chapter 9: Real or Fake?**

"I think that the other part of Sasuke's soul, may in fact, be residing in another body. To be more specific, I believe that his soul is still residing in his original body."

It felt like the wind had been knocked out of Naruto at that statement, but ironically enough, Naruto felt Sasuke take a sharp in take of breath at her comment.

"His body was burned. We're too late," Naruto said miserably.

"No. There has to be another explanation," Sasuke said defiantly.

"I don't think you're truly dead Sasuke," Tsunade explained. Naruto rolled his eyes.

"Haven't we been through this? Sasuke's soul is inside my body. Of course he's not dead!" Naruto replied angrily.

"No, not just that. I mean, I don't think Sasuke's _body_ is dead. I don't think that the body that we burned was Sasuke's actual body."

"Umm, baa-chan. I think you're-"

"Tell me," Tsunade said, interrupting Naruto, "what happened to Kabuto?"

The question caught Naruto off guard.

"What? Kabuto? I dunno. Didn't he sorta disappear?"

"What happened to Kisame's body?"

"Umm..." Naruto thought for a moment. It seemed like so long ago. Sasuke had been dead, and everyone else had been put on the back burner in his mind. Vaguely he remembered that he had killed Kisame with his odaima rasengan. There had been an explosion that had killed him. At least, the contact should have killed Kisame and maybe destroyed his body, right?

But that wasn't right. The body wouldn't have been destroyed completely. Even if parts of him had been decapitated, the ANBU ops would have picked up the pieces and analyzed them to death. No pun intended.

He vaguely remembered that he hadn't checked Kisame's body because Itachi had engaged him in his sharingan immediately after he had killed Kisame. Itachi had distracted him and everyone else, and then they'd been even further distracted when Sasuke stuck his hand through both of their chests.

Then with Sasuke's death, who had double checked what had happened to Kisame's body? Nothing else had truly mattered to Naruto. What had everyone else done? Had _anyone_ else checked?

"Did Kisame's body disappear too?" Naruto asked worriedly.

"Yes. And do you know what happened to Itachi's body?" Tsunade asked pointedly.

"Uh..."

"His body disappeared as well," Tsunade murmured.

"What?" Naruto gasped. Sasuke was livid, and Naruto could feel Sasuke's body tensing, his eyes narrowing.

"How could you lose his body?! He was dead! At least I cut off his head. He was dead, definitely dead!" Sasuke hissed angrily.

"Why didn't anyone tell me his body went missing?" Naruto demanded. Tsunade raised her eyebrows at him.

"You honestly expected us to tell you something like that with the distress you showed over Sasuke's apparent death, and then with your seemingly bizarre claim that Sasuke was inside your head? While I mused telling you as it would keep your mind off Sasuke, I didn't know what it would do for your obsessive nature."

"My obsessive nature?" Naruto asked incredulous.

"Once you put your mind to something, you stop at nothing until you have achieved your goal and gotten your way. You might have done something foolish when there was nothing you could have done without a lead."

"She has a point," Sasuke conceded, thinking it over. He knew that many considered him to have obsessed over his revenge against his brother, but at the same time, Naruto had also obsessed over his training to become the best shinobi possible and to help Sasuke. Naruto's obsessive nature might be worse than his own.

"What are you trying to get at? There's a bunch of people missing. What does that have to do with Sasuke and his body? Are you implying you think his body was switched?"

It didn't make sense. What Tsunade was proposing didn't register in Naruto's brain. It seemed too good to be true. Then again, when Naruto looked at all the facts, the outcome actually looked even worse.

Even if for some reason Sasuke's body hadn't been burned, Naruto had seen the chidori wound that Kakashi had given Sasuke. It had gone through his heart. It was fatal. Not to mention what Sasuke had said was right. Itachi was definitely dead as well; Sasuke had cut off his head. So no matter if a portion of Sasuke's soul had attached itself to another body, the other part of his soul would be dead, not alive.

"Something to that extent. Kabuto has known to carry body types to mislead people to think someone is dead. After all, he had a body that was similar in size to Sai's body, and he used a jutsu to make it look like he had killed Sai. While after further examination of the body it was clear that the body was not really Sai, it shows that Kabuto has the capability to make a cadaver look like someone else. Sasuke was with Orochimaru and Kabuto for years. What's not to say that Kabuto wouldn't have been able to duplicate a body to make it look like Sasuke's?"

"Impossible. You cannot duplicate eyes that carry the sharingan," Sasuke said.

"Yeah, I agree with Sasuke, who, er, said you can't duplicate his sharingan eyes. You did check for those, right?" Naruto asked.

"Yes, and the body had the sharingan. But you're forgetting something. Itachi _was_ dead. He also had the sharingan."

"So you're saying Kabuto switched Itachi's eyes out and put them in a look a like of Sasuke?" Naruto said. "I don't believe it. Sakura or you wouldn't have missed something like that."

Even as he said those words, a surge of hope swelled within him. Maybe Sasuke's body wasn't completely gone. They could get Sasuke's body back, and Naruto would be with Sasuke again!

Then the thought of how they had called him obsessive sprung to life, and he didn't mention how excited the news made him. He kept it to himself, ready to follow all leads on that idea when he was sure he could persuade Sasuke at the right point and time that he really did want a body.

Tsunade shrugged.

"You might be surprised. Besides, it's just a theory. But before I investigate my theory any further, I think it best for you to show me your original problem and the reason you are here spending the night. I want to see what you mean when Sasuke 'takes over' your body while you're sleeping."

For a moment, with the excitement of new answers to how and why Sasuke's soul resided in Naruto's body, Naruto had temporarily forgotten his own issues with Sasuke's soul sharing his body: namely that his body wasn't reacting properly to it.

Of course being pushed down a dark hole into a strange room had also distracted him, and Naruto took a moment to look around, idly wondering if this was Tsunade's apartment.

It was well furnished, and once the lights were on, had a very comfortable look. He had expected the walls to be the yellow-orange rock that Konoha was commonly known for. Instead, the walls were painted a cream color and were decorated with paintings and pictures.

"That's me," Naruto noted with surprise. A picture of himself with Jiraiya was hung on one of the walls. It was a picture that had been taken with Jiraiya during his training outside of Konoha. There had been a festival at the town where they'd stopped, and there had been a booth that took pictures. Naruto had insisted that the two of them should take a picture together.

Jiraiya's arms were crossed, and he looked at the camera with a smug and confident look. Naruto stood next to him, his eyes squinted up in happiness with a wide grin on his face.

"Jiraiya sent it to me to show that the two of you were doing well," Tsunade said lightly. "It was his way of getting out of writing a mission report by showing you were in good health. Not exactly efficient, but I liked the picture."

"Picture?" Sasuke asked.

"This is why you need to get a body so you can see things again," Naruto grumbled, but he grudgingly described the picture and the story behind it to Sasuke.

"If what the two of you say is true, then Sasuke will be able to see the picture himself once you fall asleep Naruto," Tsunade said. She pointed through a doorway off to the right. "The spare bedroom is in there which is where we will observe you. As I said earlier, Shizune and Sakura will also come to help with the observations. While I do care what happens to you, as this is not a pressing matter we all need our share of sleep. They should arrive shortly. Until they arrive, you should prepare yourself, or rather, selves for bed."

Naruto nodded and headed off to the extra bedroom. He hadn't brought an extra change of clothes for bed as Sasuke was still "awake" in his body after Naruto had fallen asleep anyway. Even so, Naruto took off the top part his jumper suit. He wore a black t-shirt and fish-net underneath. He quickly took off his t-shirt so that he could remove his fish-net and put his t-shirt back on to look more casual.

Quickly he went to the bathroom and did his business before coming out again.

"You're quiet," Naruto finally said to Sasuke.

"Hn."

"What was with you today?" Naruto asked.

"Nothing was "with" me today," Sasuke grunted in reply. Naruto rolled his eyes, hoping his "spirit self" was showing his disbelieving movement to Sasuke.

"Why don't you want a body of your own? We could be together," Naruto said grumpily.

"I told you already. I'd never get my normal body back. There'd be limitations. And do you think people would really accept the two of us together as a couple?"

Another thought had also started to bother Sasuke. The idea of being in someone else's body and using that body to pleasure and be pleasured by Naruto seemed wrong to him. Naruto would be pleasing someone else's body. It made him strangely jealous. Not that he would tell that to Naruto though.

"Yes," Naruto answered without hesitation. "Kakashi-sensei and Dokueki already know about us. They're okay with it. And my grandmother thinks it's fine too."

Neither mentioned the fact that Tsunade seemed to think that Sasuke could get his body back. Naruto, ever the optimist, was at least realistic when it came to realizing Sasuke wouldn't want to talk about it. Sasuke obviously didn't mention it because he didn't want to think about the idea. For him, he didn't want to get his hopes up and then have that hope horribly torn down around him.

"What about your great-grandparents? What about Sakura?" Sasuke asked. "How do you think she'll feel when she finds out about the two of us?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto didn't answer. He had thought that his great-grandparents would come around soon enough and see that he didn't really want to be with anyone but Sasuke. Not to mention the fact that he wasn't overly looking forward to their idea of becoming daimyo. It just wasn't his dream, and he didn't feel like he would be able to be a very good daimyo. If he were to disappoint them, he might as well do it all at once. As for Sakura's reaction – he hadn't given it too much thought.

She was their friend. Yes, she'd liked Sasuke, but she'd be happy for them.

"She'll be happy for us," Naruto said confidentially. "Plus, I think she's a closet yaoi-pervert. She's into guy on guy."

Sasuke groaned.

"So you mean if I do get another body and we're intimate, she'll want to watch?"

"I didn't mean it like that!" Naruto snapped. Somehow, Sasuke wasn't convinced.

"Naruto? Are you ready?" Sakura's voice came muffled through the door. Naruto started, wondering if she had heard any part of their conversation. Then he relaxed, realizing only if she could hear Sasuke would she know what they were talking about.

She also didn't sound angry, even though she had a right to be. He should have told her about Sasuke. Taking a deep breath, he prepared himself to explain why he hadn't told her that Sasuke was still residing in his body.

"Coming," Naruto said as he opened the door and let Sakura, Shizune, and Tsunade walk in. However, upon seeing all of their serious looks, it didn't quite seem like the time to talk to Sakura as the three women started preparing the room to observe him.

Awkward wasn't a strong enough word to cover how Naruto felt with the way they looked at him when they finished setting-up their equipment to monitor him.

"Umm, what do I do? Just go to sleep?" Naruto asked, looking between the three of them and the bed. Off to the side he noticed they had set-up several chairs to record data from.

"In a minute. First I need to put these on you. They're chakra readers. They'll take a reading of how your chakra reacts during this time," Tsunade said, holding out what looked like small, white sponges. Tsunade peeled off a thin piece of paper from one side, and Naruto could see how one end looked shinier than the other due to the adhesive.

"Where do those go?" Naruto asked.

"One on your back near your spine, one close to your heart, one on your forehead, one on the palm of each hand, and one on the bottom of your feet. Seven in all."

Naruto frowned, looking at the square, sponge-like things. They didn't look like they would be comfortable to sleep with on. Even so, he let Tsunade place one in each spot, doing his best not to watch the way Sakura seemed to look at him sadly. He idly wondered if perhaps Sasuke had had an inkling of how people would react better than Naruto had. She did seem hurt he hadn't confided in her.

Thinking about it more, if she hadn't told him if their roles were reverse, he'd probably be crestfallen too. He resolved to talk with her once this was over.

Once the chakra readers were all on, Naruto lied down on the bed. It felt a bit ridiculous to have the chakra readers on while knowing there were people there watching him, but he closed his eyes to try and sleep anyway.

"Just think of something calming to go to sleep," Tsunade said soothingly.

"Think of me," Sasuke murmured with a smirk. Somehow, Naruto thought that might be more exciting than calming.

Something calming..._calming_…

And Naruto fell asleep rather quickly thinking of nothing at all.

Sasuke opened Naruto's eyes and sat up.

"Naruto, try and relax otherwise you won't fall asleep," Tsunade said a little impatiently. Sasuke narrowed his eyes slightly at the tone.

"I'm not Naruto."

Sakura's mouth dropped open, Shizune looked puzzled, and Tsunade raised her eyebrow.

"No, no you're not. The voice is Naruto's, but the tone inflection, the posture, and the glare is definitely not his."

"Sasuke?" Sakura asked hesitantly, looking surprised. Sasuke gave a short nod of affirmation.

"I didn't realize how drastic the difference between the two would be. Even though I could read the slight lip movements over Naruto's own, this is very different."

"Hn."

The next few hours Sasuke found himself lounging lazily, talking to Tsunade about his time in Sound as well as getting chewed out about "kidnapping" Naruto and almost killing him. They all spoke as they watched the physical transformation slowly take place. Sasuke's black eyes began to bleed through into Naruto's blue, Sasuke's dark hair replaced Naruto's blond, paws replaced his hands, with an addition of two blond tails to complete the night's transformation.

"That's bizarre," Tsunade murmured. At the moment, Sakura had gone for her shift of sleep while Shizune and Tsunade scribbled down notes on Sasuke and Naruto's join appearance.

Personally Sasuke thought having paws and two tails should result in a more drastic reaction than just 'that's bizarre,' but held his tongue. Naruto would whine if Tsunade hit him while 'sleeping.' The adhesive of the chakra readers was also rather annoying now that it was sticking to the soft, velvety pad on the bottom of his hands and feet-turned-into-paws.

"Shizune, why don't you go lie down for a bit," Tsunade said. Shizune turned to look at Tsunade, looking ready to protest that she didn't need more sleep, but the look on the Hokage's face stopped her.

"I'll leave you two alone," Shizune said wisely. Once Shizune left the room, Tsunade turned her golden eyes to gaze sharply at Sasuke.

"Why don't you want your own body?"

They'd briefly discussed this earlier when Sakura and Shizune had been there, but Tsunade hadn't pressed the issue then.

"I already told you, I won't have my original body back. It will be less than efficient."

"So you're willing to jeopardize Naruto's health and his entire existence just because you can't have your normal body back? Do you realize how lucky you are that you're even alive?"

Yes, Sasuke knew how lucky he was. He knew how lucky that he was stuck in Naruto's body, and not someone else's. He didn't think he would be able to stand being stuck with a person he despised, which was just about everyone other than Naruto.

"It's better all around."

"Sasuke, your soul is pressing for sole ownership of Naruto's body. Your soul is trying to push his out."

The news shocked Sasuke.

"I don't mean to-"

"And because your soul is vying for full attention, Naruto's soul is suppressing yours. Eventually, _his_ soul will suppress _yours_. If it weren't for the fact that he wants you there with him, you would be a shell of what you are now, locked away in the deepest recess of Naruto's mind."

"What?"

"If we don't find a body of your own soon, your soul will be locked away in Naruto's body until his death. How do you think that would make Naruto feel, knowing that you are there, but out of reach? Not to mention you would go mad locked away in the recess of Naruto's mind."

What was Sasuke supposed to say to such news?

Tsunade realized he needed time to think, and they didn't speak any more.

* * *

_"You don't have much time left," Yondaime spoke quietly._

_"Time for what?" Naruto asked. He was dreaming, he could tell. Yondaime was speaking with him, so obviously that couldn't be real. Yet for some reason, this dream was different that what had happened before. He felt as though he had been dreaming about something else before this. It felt like he was lying down about ready to wake up. It was also difficult for him to speak. Everything was black, and he couldn't see his father. He could only hear him as though he were in the back of his mind._

_"Sasuke's right," Yondaime murmured._

_"You said that before," Naruto managed to get out, his lips feeling strangely fat as he tried to speak._

_"His body. Only his body will do. Anything else would mean death."_

_"Body?" Naruto tried asking, but this time his lips refused to move, and his memories were slipping away from him as his body got heavier and lighter all at once…_

* * *

"Isn't this freaky or what?" Naruto asked, looking at Sakura, holding up his paws, swishing the two tails behind him and tossing his head back and forth to have silky black bangs sway in front of his black eyes.

Experimentally, he stretched his paws and watched as the chakra readers stuck and unstuck slightly to his slightly furry pads of his paws.

"No, this is perfectly normal," Sasuke deadpanned.

"I was talking to Sakura, not you," Naruto muttered.

"It's definitely strange," Sakura said, nodding. There was a twitch in her hand as though she wanted to reach out and pet him. Naruto grinned widely, and swished his two blond tails back and forth in front of her, taunting her. She batted at them playfully.

"Why are you shaking your ass around so much?" Sasuke asked, nonplussed. Naruto gave a slight chuckle, guessing that his soul didn't change "forms" like his body did; therefore it must have looked weird for him to be moving around with non-existent tails.

What Naruto wanted to respond with was "to get your horny," but there were too many people in the room.

Naruto had woken up five minutes previously, and his body was slowly returning to normal.

After another twenty minutes, he looked completely like his usual self.

"So what all did you guys talk about?" Naruto asked curiously, his hands stretched behind his head, feeling strangely at ease.

Despite learning that something was off with his body, that two supposedly dead Akatsuki members' bodies were missing, as was Orochimaru's lab rat, Kabuto, Naruto felt utterly peaceful.

Sasuke was here with him, and his closest friends didn't think he was insane. For the moment, life felt good. It was an illusion; he knew that. Right now, his life was really screwed up, and he only had a fake sense of happiness in that he wasn't able to have what he truly wanted, and the peaceful air wasn't bound to last past morning, but for now, everything felt wonderful.

"Sasuke explained about his time in Sound," Tsunade said crisply. She rubbed her eyes sleepily. Out of everyone, she had gotten the least about of sleep – Sasuke not included. "Come back later tonight. I have several important meetings today. I need some actual sleep before I can face the day." She yawned widely for emphasis.

"But Tsunade-sama, you have a meeting this morning in just an hour with the delegate-"

"They can wait. I need sleep," Tsunade said, waving a dismissive hand.

Naruto snickered, Sakura rolled her eyes, and Shizune looked exasperated at Tsunade.

"How do we get out of here?" Naruto asked, as he walked back through Tsunade's apartment with Sakura toward that weird hole that he had been pushed down. He looked at her walls, his eyes glancing at the picture he had taken with Jiraiya and wondered if Sasuke had actually gone out to look at it.

"Stairs," Sakura said, and she showed a little door in the wall that seemed to spiral around the hole he had fallen down. "Ne, Naruto," Sakura started.

"Yeah?"

"Want to go to Ichiraku ramen with me?" Sakura wondered, her eyes looking sad.

Naruto gulped, feeling guilty. He really should have told Sakura sooner. He would almost rather have had her punching him than have Sakura look so sad and disappointed in him.

"That would be great. Sakura," Naruto said, quickly trying to get his apology out in a rush, "I'm so sorry. I should have told you as soon as-"

His apology was cut off as a fist slammed right into his face.

"Shannoro! Damn right you should have told me straight away!"

Naruto lay twitching on the ground, realizing that he had spoken too soon; he'd rather not have had his face punched in.

"Come on," Sakura said, picking him up by his arm and dragging him off. At least she hadn't beaten him too much, and there was ramen to look forward to eating.

Hope swelled in him as they left Tsunade's apartment. Sakura didn't hate him for not telling her. She knew now, and there was an insanely small possibility (but still a possibility) that Sasuke could get his body back. For the moment, life felt good.

**Next Chapter: Body Hunter or Snatcher?**

* * *

Insert standard excuse here for lateness of chapter. You may choose: life problems, wedding planning, internet/computer problems (stupid conficker virus!), writer's block, or all of the above to sate your curiosity as to why it took me so long to update. And before you ask why isn't this chapter longer I have two reasons: first because I wanted to update sooner rather than later, and second, because I would have left another cliff-hangar. I didn't think that would be very nice.

Sorry for the wait and I hope you liked the chapter. ~ Jelp


End file.
